Computer system for automatic organization, indexing and viewing of information from multiple sources

ABSTRACT

A computer data processing system including a central processing unit configured with a novel integrated computer control software system for the management of data objects including dynamic and automatic organization, linking, finding, cross-referencing, viewing and retrieval of multiple objects regardless of nature or source. The inventive system provides underlying component architecture having an object-oriented database structure and a metadata database structure which is unique in storing only one instance of each object while linking the object to multiple collections and domains by unique metadata links for the grouping into and retrieval from any of the collections. The system employs configurable, extensible attribute/properties of data objects in metadata format, and a truly user-friendly configurable interface that facilitates faster, more unified, comprehensive, useful and meaningful information management. Additional features include a sticky path object hierarchy viewing system, key phrase linking, viewing by reference, and drag-and-drop relationship link creation.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This application is the Regular U.S. Application of ProvisionalU.S. Application S No. 60/396,439, filed Jul. 16, 2002 by the sameinventor under the title: System, Method and Software for Dynamic,Automatic Organization, Archiving, Retrieval, Indexing and Viewing ofInformation Objects from Multiple Sources. The benefit of the filingdate of that Provisional Application is claimed under 35 U.S. Code §§119 and 120, and the international treaties and conventions to which theUnited States is a signatory.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The invention relates to computer data processing systems thatinclude central processing units configured with novel software-basedinformation management systems, including but not limited to: filesystem browsers; personal information management systems; databasestorage, organization, accessing and retrieval systems; digital assetmanagement systems; email client and server operation; integratedsoftware development environments; internet- or intranet-based searchengines; and similar information services and systems.

BACKGROUND OF THE ART

[0003] A primary use of computer information systems is the creation,organization, transmission and storage of information of a variety oftypes in the form of content data, including but not limited to wordprocessing documents; spreadsheets; images; drawings; photographs;sounds; music; email; software source code; web pages, both local andremote; application programs; name and address lists; appointments;notes; calendar schedules; task lists; personal finance management data;corporate customer, department, employee, stocking and accounting data;and so on.

[0004] Generally, this information data is stored in either individualfile system entities (files) of proprietary formats stored on a local orLAN or WAN network disk drive or accessed via the Internet, such as aword processing document or databases with specialized access software.For example, email messages are often stored bundled together in asingle file, and new messages are retrieved from a remote server via anInternet protocol; access requires a specific email client to managethese messages. Similarly, accessing information in a database requiresspecialized programs that are compatible with the database format ornetwork access protocol to communicate with a server to store orretrieve the information and display it in a useful format.

[0005] Although file data strings (the string of digital bits thatcomprise the content data or object) are generally accompanied by asmall, rudimentary amount of metadata about the file, i.e., data thatrepresents properties describing the file contents (such as one or moreof: the file's name, the creation date, the last modification date,access privileges, and possibly a comment), there is typically verylittle or no metadata conveying information as to the internal structureor meaning of the file's contents, that is, no metadata about thecontent data. Some files do have internal descriptions of the contents,but this data is often difficult to access, requiring specialapplications to read and not otherwise generally available to the user.Similarly, records in a database lack information that is needed for usein file systems. In general, database records cannot be manipulated inthe same way as files in a file system.

[0006] Thus, the differences in the nature and manner in which contentdata is stored in individual files and in proprietary databases, and thelack of useful metadata about the files or the database content data,makes them closed and partitioned. This closed and partitioned nature offiles and databases poses numerous, significant organizational, archivaland retrieval problems.

[0007] File system browsers, due to their bounded (strictly limited)knowledge of file contents created by various and possibly unknownsoftware applications, are limited to organizing files by the basicmetadata properties provided by the file system itself: by name, variousdates, and by directory or folder.

[0008] Finally, there is no general software mechanism (program) incontemporary operating systems to link or group information from diverseindependent sources when they are managed by separate applications. Thisproblem with presently available operating systems and applicationprograms was succinctly set forth by Mr. Mundie of Microsoft as follows(referring to Bill Gates):

[0009] The scenario is the dream, not something defined in super-gorydetail,” says Mundie. “It's what Bill and I focus on more than thebusiness plans or P&Ls. For a project as big as Longhorn, there couldhave been 100 scenarios, but Bill does this thing with his mind where hedistills the list down to a manageable set of factors that we canorganize developer groups around.” Gates' scenarios usually take theform of surprisingly simple questions that customers might have. Here'sa sampling from our interviews: “Why are my document files stored oneway, my contacts another way, and my e-mail and instant-messaging buddylist still another, and why aren't they related to my calendar or to oneanother and easy to search en masse? . . . ” (Quote from FortuneMagazine, available on the Internet at: http://www.fortune.com/fortune/ceo/articles/0,15114,371336-3,00.html

[0010] In addition, data stored in computer systems does not have, as afundamental aspect, relationship information other than the most trivialof forms. For example, files may be grouped together within folders ordirectories, or they may be labeled with a color, but otherwise there isvery little functionality to allow the grouping or linking of disparatepieces of information within the system.

[0011] In particular, when a file or other piece of information islogically involved in multiple groupings, linking, cross-referencing orrelating the groupings is cumbersome at best with current systems. Forexample, where a given file “myCarFinances.doc” logically should begrouped in both a “Finances” group and an “Autos” group, there are notruly easy choices for accomplishing such multiple grouping. Either acopy of the file must be made in two separate “Finances” and “Autos”folders, in which case the user must be careful to update both fileswhen changes are made; or a shortcut or alias file must be created andplaced in these folders. Both currently available approaches involvetedious, repetitive manual effort to create and manage that becomesexponentially more difficult as the number of groupings orcross-references increases.

[0012] Because of this, cross-referencing and filing objects in multiplelocations is difficult, error-prone, and time-consuming. If copies aremade for each location, valuable disk space is wasted, and the user isleft with having to manage changes by making new copies whenever theoriginal is modified and remembering every location of every copy. Manycross-references require many copies, further complicating the task. Andeven if the user decides to create alias files instead of making actualcopies, the alias files still take up space, and the management issue isequally complex and time-consuming.

[0013] Accordingly, there is a long felt need in the art to provide atruly open computer system having data structures, input interfaces,displays and operational systems that permits the organization ofinformation, as data objects, in a wide variety of files and databases,which computer system is independent of the source of the informationobjects, is dynamic and automatic, permitting faster archiving,retrieval and viewing of the information and providing more meaningfuland useful links for better organization and indexing of theinformation. What is needed is a simple-to-use data structure andoperating mechanism to link information together in a dynamic,memory-and-space-efficient manner, without modifying the originalinformation or propagating numerous, storage-space-robbing duplicates,each of which individually must be updated as new versions arise.

THE INVENTION

[0014] Definition of Terms

[0015] It is to be understood that references to the following terms inthis application shall have the corresponding meaning provided (evenwhen used in lower case and not in bold):

[0016] Metadata Filing System, abbreviated herein MFS: means theinventive integrated software system for the management of informationalobjects on a computer system through the comprehensive use of metadataas defined herein, for recognizing, organizing, creating and viewingrelationships between such objects which comprises one or more softwareapplications that provide both a user-interface and an underlyingcomponent architecture for the management and display of the user'sinformation.

[0017] Annotation or annotation metadata: means metadata that was notoriginally associated with an object, but which is defined or specifiedby either the user or the system for organizational purposes.

[0018] B-Tree: means a data structure by which information may be storedefficiently on disk, with a minimum of disk accesses to fetch aparticular piece of information using an ordered key such as a numericidentifier or a sortable string of text.

[0019] Cache: means a special storage location in memory or on diskwhere objects and their associated metadata properties may be veryquickly retrieved.

[0020] Catalog: means a special database built upon the object storethat stores and retrieves reference objects addressed by UUID and theirspecial metadata properties of this invention; performs queries onobjects by specified metadata property selection or designation;notifies other processes of the metadata property changes; and maintainsa dependency graph of objects.

[0021] Classifier: means a process by which objects are examined andassigned to one or more containers or collections for the purpose ofgathering together objects with similar or the same properties specifiedin a Boolean-type metadata expression and/or key phrase match.

[0022] Collection: means a grouping of objects based on a metadataspecification describing properties that all objects in the group havein common, or objects that were grouped together specifically by theuser as having some shared meaning or logical grouping.

[0023] Container: means an object in which other objects may be groupedtogether for the purpose of organization. A collection is a special typeof container, and containers may contain other containers.

[0024] Domain: means an object that includes processes for creating andmanaging reference objects of specific types, including new classes ofobjects, in a consistent manner. Domains permits grouping objects bynature, class of information in them, or processes of dealing with them.For example, a domain designated “EMail” may define reference objectsfor email messages; a mailbox object; a mailbox signature; and so on.The EMail domain also provides a lcation and retrieval process by whichmessages are retrieved from a central server and stored locally in thesystem. A domain designated “File” may define reference objects,explained below, for files, directories, and volumes, as well as ascanning and matching process that creates a mirrored representationwithin MFS of a directory subtree specified in a Working Set.

[0025] Event: an occurrence of note that may be acted upon by a thread(defined below) to perform a task.

[0026] Link or link metadata: means metadata that is specificallydefined, updated, and accessed for the purpose of linking together andorganizing reference objects logically in collections and othercontainers.

[0027] Metadata: means data representing a set of properties of a giventype and meaning, that is user-definable and selectable data about thecontents of an object, possibly including but having more data thanconventional, ordinary, presently used “metadata”. Examples of metadataproperties in the inventive application software system include, but arenot limited to, names; dates and times; comments; locations;descriptions; markers; icons; sizes; dimensions, exposure data, andcopyright of images; keywords and phrases; colors; annotations; links;groups; containment; ownership; access restrictions; and so on. Metadataas referred to herin is to be distinguished from currently used“ordinary metadata”, which is rudimentary data that identifies or namesan object, such as a file (e.g. “miscellaneous” or “photos”), but thatdoes not include data about the contents of an object (about the contentdata of the object). Metadata as used herein more particularly includesspecially formulated and used “annotation metadata” and “link metadata”,defined in detail in the description below, including by context andexample.

[0028] Object: means any piece of information stored in a digitalformat, including but not limited to file system entities such as filesand folders; specific entities such as documents, applications, images,sounds, music files, and the like; contact or name/address records,which may be stored as individual files or multiple records within asingle file; received and sent email messages; and objects that act ascontainers to hold other objects.

[0029] Object Store: means a special database that stores and retrievesobject data by unique identifier (UID).

[0030] Property: means a user definable or selected descriptor of acertain kind for the purpose of attributing characteristics or values toan object in the form of content information metadata that can be usedto classify objects into collections. A group of properties set, createdor selected by the user or a Domain for a particular object isconsidered the object's metadata. In the inventive system, specific linkmetadata is a special property of all reference objects in the MFS,provided to organize reference objects logically in collections andother containers.

[0031] Reference Object: means an object internally created and storedin the catalog and object store, which represents data originatingexternally (such as files or email messages) that are managed withinMFS, the inventive metadata filing system.

[0032] Thread: means a software entity that performs a particular tasksimultaneously, and asynchronously, with other threads.

[0033] Unique Identifier, UID: means an identifier that is unique withinthe scope of an object store.

[0034] Universally Unique Identifier, UUID: means an identifier which isused to uniquely specify reference objects within the inventive metadatafiling system, as well as provide a one-to-one mapping between externaldata (for example, files in the file system) and reference objects.

[0035] Value: means a Boolean, float, integer, date, time, text string,image, or other measure or metric of a property of an object.

[0036] Working Set: means the set of sources of information, eithercreated internally or imported from or received from externaloriginators, that the inventive M FS, metadata filing system, manages.This includes data from file systems, either local or remote on anetwork; web addresses; email servers; and the like.

[0037] Summary, Including Objects and Advantages of the Invention

[0038] The invention comprises a computer data processing system,described in more detail below, that includes a central processing unitconfigured with operating system and applications software, the latterwhich includes a novel integrated computer control software system forthe management of informational objects including recognizing,organizing, creating and viewing relationships between multiple objects.The overall inventive computer control system, given the shorthand term“MFS” for metadata filing system, includes one or more novel softwareapplications that provide both a user-interface and underlying componentarchitecture, including an object-oriented database structure, or objectstore, and a metadata database structure, or catalog, for the managementand rendering of these objects to a display viewable by a user inresponse to user input, regardless of the source or nature of theobject.

[0039] The inventive MFS computer data processing system for automaticorganization, indexing and viewing of information objects from multiplesources is characterized by: at least one central processing unitconfigured with client operating system and applications software;(and/or in the case of Internet operations the MFS system is configuredwith server software to host a site on the Internet including theserving of both static, generally informational Web pages, and dynamicWeb pages, of information to individuals including information that maybe generated on the fly in response to individual requests, routers andinterfaces including at least one client and/or network interface to atleast one network data communication device for exchange of data amongcomputers, routers and input devices); and peripheral input and outputdevices linked to said client/server central processing unit in anarchitecture so as to provide client and/or site operation andfunctionality; said central processor unit includes at least one memorycoupled to a bus; said memory including selected program structuresstored therein, including an operating system program structure, atleast one client and/or server system management program structure, atleast one hierarchical data storage management system program structure,and selected application program code structures including the novel MFScode structure described herein; said central processing unit readingdata input so as to implement system functionality selected fromoperational, computational, archival, sorting, screening,classification, formatting, rendering, printing and communicationfunctions and processes; and data record structures selectablyconfigurable in object, metadata, relational or hierarchical databasesand which data records are selectably associatable, correlatable andcallable; said central processing unit reading from user, network orInternet server input devices data relating to objects received by,created by or selected by individual users, and processing such data insaid central processing unit so as to generate and manage informationalobjects by special metadata linking to reference objects created,received or selected and/or input by users, and so as to provideinformation management tools that facilitate communication to generate,transmit and receive, archive, search, order, retrieve and renderobjects, including information organization personalized for eachindividual user based on preferences selected by the user.

[0040] The inventive MFS computer data processing system apparatus forautomatic organization, indexing and viewing of information objects frommultiple sources includes a computer-readable memory structured to storeobject information in an object oriented database and metadata in acatalog database, a computer display connected to said memory means fordisplaying said objects, a computer-operator (user) interface device forinputting information to specify objects or properties of objects,sources of external objects for management by the inventive MFS system,a computer processor connected to said memory for transferring saidspecifying information to storage in said memory, link metadata in asecond catalog database in said memory linking said specifyinginformation to said objects to provide rendering thereof on a displayfor viewing by the computer system users.

[0041] The computer(s) of the invention can be configured in a systemarchitecture, for example, as one or more client or server computer(s),database computer(s), routers, interfaces and peripheral input andoutput devices, that together implement the system and network(s) towhich a client computer system may be connected. A computer used in theinventive system typically includes at least one processor and memorycoupled to a bus. The bus may be any one or more of any suitable busstructures, including a memory bus or memory controller, peripheral bus,and a processor or local bus using any of a variety of bus architecturesand protocols. The memory typically includes volatile memory (e.g., RAM)and fixed and/or removable non-volatile memory (e.g., ROM, Flash, harddisk including in RAID arrays, floppy disc, mini-drive, Zip, Memorystick, PCMCIA card, tape, optical (CD-ROM, etc.), DVD, magneto-optical,and the like), to provide for storage of information, includingcomputer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules,operating systems, and other data used by the computer(s). A networkinterface is coupled to the bus to provide an interface to the datacommunication network (LAN, WAN, and/or Internet) for exchange of dataamong the various local network users, site computers, routers, andother computing devices. The system also includes at least oneperipheral interface coupled to the bus to provide communication withindividual peripheral devices, such as keyboards, keypads, touch pads,mouse devices, trackballs, scanners, printers, speakers, microphones,memory media readers, writing tablets, cameras, modems, network cards,RF, fiber-optic and IR transceivers, and the like,

[0042] A variety of program modules can be stored in the memory,including OS, server system programs, HSM (Hierarchical StorageManagement) system programs, application programs including the MFScontrol system program(s), other programs modules and data. In anetworked environment, the program modules may be distributed amongseveral computing devices coupled to the network, and used as needed.When a program is executed, the program is at least partially loadedinto the computer memory, and contains instructions for implementing theoperational, computational, archival, sorting, screening,classification, formatting, rendering, printing and communicationfunctions and processes described herein for the inventive MFS operationof automatic organization, indexing and viewing of information objectsfrom multiple sources.

[0043] The inventive information object management system manages theseobjects, in the applications control program CPU-configured aspect, byscanning the created, selected or incoming objects' source data, whetherfiles on disk or data provided by remote servers. When individualobjects are recognized as contained in the source data, referenceobjects within the MFS system are created and tagged with UUIDs toprovide a one-to-one mapping between external data and MFS referenceobjects. Specific knowledge of the data formats is used to extract anyrelevant information from the objects (e.g. ID3 tags for artist, genre,and so on for music files) to be used as metadata. This metadata isattached to the reference objects, which are stored in the catalog forfast access. As reference objects are created or are updated by MFS,they are collected into system and user-defined collections, whichprovide a logical grouping of objects based on one or more of threecriteria: 1) user-defined categorization; 2) user or system-definedmetadata query specification(s); and 3) user or system-defined keyphrase matching.

[0044] The inventive MFS-configured CPU(s) streamline informationmanagement by providing a view of information objects of all domainnatures (varieties) from different sources, with a simple, direct,shared and unified storage and linkage system that comprises the salientfunctionality of storage of only one object, the MFS reference object,and linking it to one or more collection groups by special user-createdor selected MFS link metadata, including a UUID, which is in turn storedin a special MFS catalog database. The link metadata, including the UIDand UUID, are aliased to the various MFS collections selected, set orcreated by the user in order to create the retrieval links from thevarious relevant collections to the reference object. The inventiveMFS-configured system automatically updates stored reference objects'metadata (names, sizes, and the like) and links (collection andcontainer membership), classifying incoming and changed objects by theircontent data and metadata, thereby automatically updating and creatingnew links to the growing number of objects in the various collections.

[0045] The inventive MFS-configured system provides an organizationalstructure and methodology for information management, including archivalstorage, retrieval, indexing, cross-referencing, logically grouping, anddisplay of informational objects of all kinds. Objects may be createdwithin MFS directly by the user, or within MFS through softwarecomponents that create representations of information not storeddirectly within MFS, such as files and folders on a storage medium.

[0046] From the perspective of process, or method of operation of theMFS-configured computer system the CPU is caused to process as follows(by reference to an “external object” is meant an object outside MFS,although it can be one created by the client computer system or could bean incoming foreign object, that is, one sent from a distant server).When an external object is to be managed by MFS (whether incoming orlocally created), MFS creates an internal representation of the objectand stores the representation in the MFS object oriented database(OODB), called the object store, which assigns an internal uniqueidentifier (UID), upon which it is termed the “reference object” (RO).The RO is simultaneously scanned and metadata is created (including adesktop icon) and/or extracted, and this metadata is associated (bitstrings added to the object data) with the reference object. Only thismetadata (including unique reference information for finding theexternal object, called the universally-unique ID, or UUID) is stored inthe catalog database, not the entire external object itself This processis “mirroring”, with the reference object identified within the systemby internal UID, and the association properties metadata being the“image” (or “virtual image”) in the catalog. The system, as metadata arecreated upon selection or creation of collections or containers,“reflects” the reference object in them through tagging additional“path” and “hierarchy” link metadata to the properties metadata that isautomatically associated with the reference object and stored in thecatalog. Updates and changes to the reference objects also update themetadata in the catalog with the changes rippling throughout all theimages in all collections instantly and simultaneously. Useridentification, selection, or creation of a collection writes themetadata for the selected object; dragging and dropping an object into acollection or container also auto-writes to the metadata, adding therelevant link. Searching the metadata, via automatic or user selected orcreated queries recalls the single reference object from the OODB, andif selected, the external object is retrieved from the external source(hard drive or other data storage), permitting a comprehensive desktopinterface.

[0047] The inventive MFS-configured computer system application programsmay be written in a wide range of computer languages, a suitableexemplary language being the C++ language. A number of equivalentversions of the inventive MFS program(s) can be written by a personskilled in the art of software development upon an understanding of thearchitecture, methodology and functional features disclosed herein. Theinventive MFS applications can be run on a standard computer systemarchitecture including a standard industry computer processor,input/output devices, a bitmapped display, and at least one primarydefined physical data storage area for temporary and permanent storageof data objects.

[0048] The following summary of the features of the inventiveMFS-configured computer system(s) and how these features arefunctionally realized will enable one skilled in the art to writesuitable code for applications that realize the MFS functionality.

[0049] Collections: The inventive MFS-configured CPU control programsimultaneously classifies objects into multiple containers using linkmetadata rather than duplication, thereby allowing users to categorizeobjects in ways that most clearly reflect different approaches and waysof viewing the same information. Users can select predeterminedcollections provided in a basic menu, such as Family, Friends, Work, ToDo, Activities, and Vacation when running the MFS program for the firsttime, and can create and set up user-defined collections as well.

[0050] Drag-And-Drop Categorization: Another feature of the inventiveMFS-configured computer system enables the user to organize all kinds ofinformation, not merely simple files, through a drag-and-dropwindows-and-icons software functionality, making it easy to organizeobjects and cross-reference them from place to place using adesktop-style interface. That is, clicking on the icon or list referenceto an object in one collection window and dragging it into anothercollection window establishes a new link; the object is now accessiblefrom both collections. And, rather than being duplicated in an objectdatabase, only the link metadata is placed in the catalog, with thatcatalog being updated for retrieval of the reference object from eithercollection. This drag-and-drop linkage creation without duplication isan extremely powerful function of the inventive application program.

[0051] Dynamic Queries: Another function of the inventive MFS-configuredcomputer system provides novel ways to show relationships betweeninformation objects based on shared properties by querying the MFSmetadata and creating links dynamically, including but not limited tomatching key phrases in an object's textual properties; matching datesand times, including date and time ranges or exact matches; filtering onsizes, ordering, or type; and so forth.

[0052] Partitioned Storage: Another function of the inventive MFSapplications program structure provides a unique and efficient mechanismfor storage of objects and their properties, for fast and dynamicupdating and retrieval, a partitioned storage organization comprising acatalog (a metadata database) and object store (an object database forstoring object data, including B-Tree nodes, foundation and referenceobjects).

[0053] View By Reference: Another function of the inventive MFS programprovides a novel mechanism for presenting non-apparent or unexpectedrelationships between objects by leveraging both the system's and theuser's categorization mechanisms to show only relevant informationthrough filtering and cross-referencing.

[0054] Sticky Paths: Another function of the inventive MFS programprovides a variety of hierarchical views of objects and theircontainment relationships and/or location paths within the user'scomputer system, including but not limited to list views whereby thevisible objects' containment hierarchies are continuously made visiblein a dynamically-updating portion of the window.

[0055] People, Activities, Time Orientation: Another function of theinventive MFS-configured computer system provides a basic set oforganization principles so users can intuitively manage theirinformation in a way that reflects the information's relationships asthey occur in the real world, including organizations based on people,projects, activities, time, places, etc.

[0056] Consistency Maintenance: Another function of the inventiveMFS-configured system keeps all object relationships up to dateautomatically, so that any changes in the user's information space(e.g., desktop) results in timely and appropriate changes to any objectviews.

[0057] Automatic Hypertext Linking: Another function of the inventiveMFS-configured system utilizes the existing organizational structuresand data to automatically create links between objects, including butnot limited to hypertext inks in textual properties of objects such asthe bodies of email messages or the contents of a document.

[0058] Extensible Domains: Another function of the inventiveMFS-configured system provides a plug-in mechanism for otherapplications to take advantage of the features of the invention: MFSprovides interfaces to permit one or more client applications toactively create new objects for, apply properties to, store, link, andclassify the client application's information such that it may be viewedand collected in the same way as any other objects in the system. MFSprovides the software functionality to dynamically restructure and linkpreexisting file systems, files, and databases in a way that is modular,scalable, and extensible.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES AND DRAWINGS

[0059] The invention is described in more detail by reference to thefigures and drawings in which:

[0060]FIG. 1 is an overview of the inventive system's major features;

[0061]FIG. 2 is a depiction of the Mirrored Object System;

[0062]FIG. 3 describes the Property-Based Information Access;

[0063]FIG. 4 is a display depicting the MFS inventive system desktopinterface;

[0064]FIG. 5 is a display showing the preview viewing mode for images;

[0065]FIG. 6 is a display of the list viewing mode;

[0066]FIGS. 7a, 7 b and 7 c show several displays of the small and largeicon views, with added property tags;

[0067]FIG. 8 includes two displays depicting the view scaling mechanism;

[0068]FIGS. 9a and 9 b include two displays of the image and text windowviews;

[0069]FIGS. 10a and 10 b show two displays of the Information windowsfor image and music files;

[0070]FIGS. 11a and 11 b show two displays of the content view mode, forimages and email;

[0071]FIGS. 12a and 12 b describe the sticky path mechanism for viewinghierarchies in a list format;

[0072]FIG. 13 depicts link metadata between objects and collections;

[0073]FIG. 14 shows two displays of creating a collection of JPEG imagefiles;

[0074]FIG. 15 shows two displays of creating a collection of objectsrelated to Scandinavia by key phrase;

[0075]FIGS. 16a and 16 b depict the hyperlinking mechanism for objectswith textual properties;

[0076]FIG. 17 shows an information window displaying the multipleclassification of an image;

[0077]FIG. 18 shows a contact object and its corresponding collection;

[0078]FIG. 19 depicts creation of a new object, and dynamic updating ofa collection classifying same;

[0079]FIG. 20 is a display depicting the Today collection, showing allobjects that had activity today;

[0080]FIG. 21 is a display of Today, cross-referenced by collection;

[0081]FIG. 22 is a refinement of FIG. 21, Today cross-referenced byReceived email;

[0082]FIG. 23 is a depiction of the domain mechanism for extending MFS;

[0083]FIG. 24 shows adding folders to the MFS working set;

[0084]FIGS. 25a and 25 b show the workspace during and after foldershave been added;

[0085]FIG. 26 shows the workspace view;

[0086]FIG. 27 shows the standard container and content views;

[0087]FIG. 28 shows a sticky path view;

[0088]FIG. 29 shows creation of a collection;

[0089]FIG. 30 shows manually adding objects to a collection;

[0090]FIG. 31 shows a metadata query specification for a collection;

[0091]FIG. 32 is a schematic describing an overview of consistencymaintenance: how objects are processed within the inventive system toupdate properties, classified into collections, and notified of changesby other objects;

[0092]FIG. 33 is a schematic describing in detail the updater process:how objects' properties are updated and their values stored into themetadata catalog;

[0093]FIG. 34 is a schematic describing in detail the synchronizerprocess: how changed metadata is written back to the object store;

[0094]FIG. 35 is a schematic describing in detail the notifier: howobjects are notified of changes in metadata, and when the classifier andupdater are notified of changes;

[0095]FIG. 36 is a schematic describing the classifier process: howobjects are processed for classification into collections; and

[0096]FIG. 37 is a schematic describing in detail the classification ofa single object.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTIONS, INCLUDING THE BEST MODE

[0097] The following detailed description illustrates the invention byway of example, not by way of limitation of the principles of theinvention. This description will clearly enable one skilled in the artof computer programming and software design to make and use theinvention, and describes several embodiments, adaptations, variations,alternatives, and uses of the inventions, including what we presentlybelieve is the best mode of carrying out the invention.

[0098] In this regard, the invention is illustrated in the severalfigures, and is of sufficient complexity that the many parts,interrelationships, and sub-combinations thereof simply cannot be fullyillustrated in a single patent-type drawing. For clarity andconciseness, several of the drawings show in schematic, or omit, partsthat are not essential in that drawing to a description of a particularfeature, functionality, aspect or principle of the invention beingdisclosed. Thus, the best mode embodiment of one feature may be shown inone drawing, and the best mode of another feature will be called out inanother drawing.

[0099] All publications, patents and applications cited in thisspecification are herein incorporated by reference as if each individualpublication, patent or application had been expressly stated to beincorporated by reference.

[0100] The Inventive System Implementation

[0101] The operation of the inventive MFS-configured computer system isenabled, and by way of example, embodied in one or more softwareprogram(s) that configure the CPU to provide(s) the functionalitiesdescribed above. The overview of the system architecture is shown inFIG. 1 as implementing a Mirrored Object System providing Property-BasedInformation Access, through a Comprehensive Desktop Interface, withCollections Providing Logical Groupings, with a unique method of ViewingBy Reference, as an Extensible Platform. Each of these functionalitiesis described below, with reference to corresponding figures anddiscussion.

[0102]FIG. 1 illustrates a computer system comprising a computer 101with an output display screen, an input keyboard and a memory unit, suchas a hard drive, 110, and one or more network link(s) via an e-mailserver 114. MFS, 1 comprises code modules, described in detail below,that interact as shown by the arrows, including: classifier 102,notifier 103, updater 104, synchronizer 105, a display, layout andinput/output manager 106, the catalog metadata database 107, and theobject store reference object database 108. Representative domainsviewable on the desktop include a file domain 109, a music domain 111,images domain 112 an e-mail domain 113 and a personal information domain115. The e-mail domain is linked through a network for the communicationof files, music and images to and from a network link, e.g. theInternet.

[0103] Mirrored Object System. MFS, by which is meant the inventivesystem disclosed herein, comprises one or more application(s) fororganizing all types of text and image information-from word processingdocuments and spreadsheets; to web pages and multimedia; toillustrations, images, movies, and photographs; to contacts, notes, andappointments; to sounds and music; or anything else that is stored andretrieved on a computer-using the concept of extensible properties andlink information stored as unified metadata (annotation and linkmetadata) associated with a reference object.

[0104] Many of the different instances of information that a user maywant to organize are already stored as different types of files in thefile system, or otherwise external to the user's client computer or theuser's MFS, such as web pages on the World Wide Web or records in anonline database. Some information is stored one-for-one: that is, asingle file represents a single piece of information (say, a text file).Other information is aggregated into a single file, or is spread acrossmultiple files: for example, email messages are typically stored many toa file due to their small size, and records in a database may be storedacross multiple files as well. MFS provides the software-enabledcomputer system functionality so that the user can manage all of thesedifferent sizes and types of information through portable andreplicatable links to reference objects without repetitive duplicationand with automatic updating. Only one of each reference object is storedin the object store, and the reference objects mirror one-for-one thepieces of information found externally (external to MFS as describedabove).

[0105] MFS may be used concurrently with other software or applicationsthat operationally configure the computer system to modify the externaldata sources; these sources do not notify MFS of any changes, nor do theother applications that make changes in the system. MFS provides aninternal client computer mechanism for noticing external changes in datasources such as individual files that may contain objects of interest,and for creating, deleting, or updating the appropriate referenceobjects within MFS as necessary, by comparing external data sources withthe reference objects and making the appropriate additions, deletionsand changes in the reference objects and metadata. (See FIG. 2).

[0106] Property-based Information Access. A property is informationabout an object. Currently properties are used in conventional metadataformat in a primitive form on computers: filenames, modification dates,folders, and possibly comments. The MFS inventive system, through theuse of unified metadata (locally-stored, having been extracted from theoriginal object, as well as links and annotations created by MFS) makespossible the attachment of system-defined as well as user-selected orcreated extensible properties about the content data of, or in, theobject for different types of objects, thereby organizing information,regardless of the nature of the object, based on the unified metadatavalues stored in the catalog by the MFS inventive system.

[0107] MFS maintains for each kind of object the conventional, ordinarytypes of properties that common operating systems support—name andmodification date, and the folder in which the file is stored—as well aslinks and annotations in the form of corresponding metadata defined bythe MFS itself. In addition, for images, MFS stores and maintains up todate in the catalog metadata representing the image dimensions in pixelsand the pixel size, as well as resolution, size, and quality. For musicfiles, MFS stores as metadata the album, artist, song title, genre andlength of song in the catalog. For contacts, the metadata informationstored is the typical contact record: first and last name, phonenumbers, and so on in the catalog. For Adobe documents, specialAdobe-specific properties called XMP (Extended Metadata Protocol) isread from each document and stored in the metadata database catalog aswell. These properties may be available by examining the images, musicfiles, Adobe files, and so on, but are not available in a way that makesit easy to organize these pieces of information due to the data beingembedded in the files in proprietary and changeable formats. MFSextracts the selected properties and stores them in the catalog in theform of metadata, where they may be viewed, modified, and used forclassification into collections. These are only a few of the differenttypes of objects managed by MFS, and the types of objects managed isunlimited by the system architecture.

[0108] Because of the use of a special metadata data storage structurein the MFS, the catalog, it is very easy and fast to find theinformation needed. Objects may be quickly retrieved by any expressiondenoting desired property values stored in the MFS metadata. Since MFSprovides a separate location to store this metadata and relationships,MFS may be used with any operating system regardless of the metadatasupported by the operating system directly. (See FIG. 3) ComprehensiveDesktop Interface. MFS presents information in a familiar desktop-styleinterface, with windows that show objects as icons or list views, amongothers. Window and icon sizes and locations are maintained persistently,to preserve the user's spatial arrangements. FIG. 4 shows a list offolders (401), an icon view of Photoshop files (402), a list ofuser-defined collections and the counts of objects within (403), a listof domains (404), a partially-hidden text view (405), a contact record(406), a note (407), and an appointment (408).

[0109] MFS goes much farther than other desktop interfaces, however, inproviding new and innovative viewing mechanisms that leverage theability of MFS to store and retrieve arbitrary metadata.

[0110] For example, preview images are created and stored by MFS asannotations, and can be very quickly displayed in a slide view. FIG. 5shows a typical MFS window with the object name (501), a type identifiershowing that it is a collection (502), a count of the objects displayed(503), a get info button (504), and a content region in which theobjects are shown (505).

[0111] In a list view, FIG. 6, appropriate properties are shown for thetypes of objects being viewed; no longer is the user limited to viewingonly the basic name-size-and-date list view. For example, musicproperties are shown when appropriate, since they are stored as metadatain the catalog and can be quickly retrieved. FIG. 6 shows the Musiccollection (601), with columns for filename (602), song title (603),artist (604), and genre (605). List views may be sorted ascending ordescending; the control (606) determines this, while clicking on thecolumn headers determine the property on which to sort.

[0112] In the icon views of FIGS. 7a, 7 b and 7 c, arbitrary layouts oficons and their related properties are possible; this can be doneprogrammatically, or laid out by user preference. The standard viewadornments (701 through 704) are available, and the content may beviewed either as large icon (705), large icon with additional propertiesavailable (706), or small icon (707).

[0113] As shown in FIG. 8, all views may be scaled within the window,regardless of view type (icon or list). Window (801) is scaled at 100%,while window (802) is scaled at 150%. Views may also be sorted by avariety of properties that are shared by most objects: by name, by date,by size, by count (for folders and other containers); and by kind. Thisis also extensible by MFS to new property types.

[0114] As illustrated in FIGS. 9a and 9 b, objects may also be vieweddirectly in their own windows. Images and text files in particular areeasily examined within MFS, allowing the user direct access to the data.The image window has the typical adornments (901-904; note that 903displays the image size and percentage zoom) and the content region(905) displays the image itself. Resizing the window also resizes theimage to fit the window. A text window has the standard adornments(906-909; note that 908 displays the text file size) and the contentregion (910) displays the file's text.

[0115] Because each object type may have different MFS-usable metadatathat can be extracted or synthesized from the original content data, theinformation window changes depending on the type of object being viewed.For example, FIG. 10a and 10 b show that image files present theirmetadata properties (resolution, dimensions, and so on) differently thanmusic files (artist, song title, genre). An image file informationwindow displays the file name (1001), tabs for file and photo data (1002and 1003), and image-file-specific information such as width, height,resolution, and depth (1004). All information windows have a tab to showcomments (1005) as well as a view of containers in which the objectresides (1006), and relevant contacts and projects. A Music fileinformation window displays the filename (1007), common file information(1008), and custom properties for music files including title, artist,album, and genre (1009).

[0116] Sometimes it is convenient to view objects in a single windowwithout opening new windows for each. MFS provides this through thecontent view, illustrated in FIGS. 11a and 11 b. For example, whenviewing images, the content view is divided into a view of the objectsin the container (1101) and the content of the selected object (1102).0f course, this is not limited to showing individual objects. Foldercontents, contacts, email, and so on may also be viewed in this way. Alist of email messages (1103) may be examined one at a time by selectingthem; the contents are shown in the right hand pane (1104).

[0117] Finally, MFS provides a unique list view feature. List views canhave arbitrary columns for property values, depending on the type ofobjects being displayed; these can be determined programmatically or byuser preference. As is common in list-type views of data, objects in theview that are containers for other objects may be expanded, showingtheir contents in-line with the other objects in the list, and generallyindented to indicate depth in the hierarchy.

[0118] One of the problems with a list view is that it is easy to loseone's place when scrolling through a hierarchical list of containers.When the user is looking at an item in the list, how does the user knowwhat that item's container is if it has scrolled off the top? Thehierarchical path is easily forgotten. The unique sticky path viewfunctionality of MFS, shown in FIGS. 12a and 12 b, displays hierarchiesin list format, while also maintaining a current-path view at the top ofthe window (1201) that keeps the user oriented as to location in thehierarchy (on the path) as scrolling occurs. In this way the user alwaysknows what the path is to the items and where the items (or, conversely,the user) are in the hierarchy. As the user scrolls through the list,MFS maintains a Sticky Path Pane at the top of the window that alwaysdisplays the path to the topmost item in the list (1202, 1204, 1206),updating dynamically. When the path changes (branches) due to scrolling,the sticky path redraws to correctly identify the new current path. Onlythe bottom part of the window (1203, 1205, 1207) scrolls while the pathis updated as required. Each branch successively “sticks” in amulti-line window at the top of the scroll window.

[0119] Collections Providing Logical Groupings. The MFS system tagsobjects of various kinds with the special attributes, links, and generaldescriptive metadata described above. Users may leverage this MFSmetadata information to logically group related objects through specialcontainers called collections. Collections permit selection of objectsand contain objects that are logically-grouped by 1) user-definedcategorization; 2) user or system-defined metadata query; and 3) user orsystem-defined key phrase matching.

[0120] User-defined categorization is enabled by a user directlyspecifying that a given object belongs to a given collection; this isgenerally achieved through dragging the object to the collection's iconin a window, though there are additional ways to provide user-definedcategorization. This updates specific link metadata in both the objectand the collection to indicate the relationship between the objects.(FIG. 13)

[0121] User-defined metadata queries, as shown in FIG. 14, provideautomatic grouping of objects that share certain property values. Theseare Boolean metadata expressions used by MFS to define which objectsshould belong to the collection (in addition to those that werecategorized by the user). For example, a collection of all JPEG filesmay be created by the user selecting (via a MFS-provided popup menus,and/or a type-in query line) all objects in the system that have namesthat end in .jpg or .jpeg, or have a file type of JPEG. The objects areimmediately retrieved and displayed in the collection window. Thecollection's metadata query is specified in an information window, whichconsists of the collection name (1401) and a pane of terms (1402) whichmust be satisfied for objects to be collected. When the informationwindow is closed, the collection window is shown with the collectedobjects (1403). Time-based collections, such as “Today”, dynamicallymodify their metadata queries to reflect the meaning of the collection.For example, Today will update the metadata query each day to correctlyspecify only those objects whose modification date is during the currentday. Time-based collections are particularly applicable to viewing byreference.

[0122] User- or system-defined Key Phrase Matching shown in FIG. 15provides for automatic grouping of objects whose textual contentscontain certain key phrases. For example, to group all emails, textfiles, etc. that mention cities and countries in Scandinavia, acollection may be created for that purpose with a query based on keywords or phrases that are related to Scandinavia, and MFS will collectthem together. As before, the collection's Information window specifiesthe collection definition; its name (1501) and a list of key phrases(1502), at least one of which must exist in an object for it to becollected. The result collection is displayed in a standard MFS iconwindow (1503).

[0123] As shown in FIGS. 16a and 16 b, because collections can groupobjects based on key phrases as well as by metadata properties,examining the objects can provide automatic cross-indexing and hypertextlinking based on the collections defined. Text windows (1601) areannotated by underlining and coloring hypertext-linked phrases (1602).Clicking on a link will provide a popup of the collections that specifythat key phrase (1603); choosing one will open that collection. If morethan one collection specifies the same key phrases, all appropriatecollections will be listed.

[0124] An important aspect of the inventive MFS-enabled computer systemcontrol program is shown in FIG. 17. Since it simply modifies themetadata links to indicate collection and container membership, and doesnot move or copy the original objects at all, objects may be classifiedinto several different collections at once. For example, this image isin the Images collection; it is taken from the air and so wascategorized in the Flying collection; it is a JPEG file so it is in theJPEG collection; it's a photo of children, so it is in the Kidscollection; it was taken during a trip to Mono Lake, so it is in theMono Lake (Blake) folder; and finally, the children in the photo are inthe Ward family. All the containers that contain the object are listed(1701) and can be opened directly. In this way the user is spared fromhaving to decide what single folder the file or object should be stored;collections can have MFS metadata links to many objects, and objectlinks may be stored in many different collections. For example, anautomobile repair bill can be filed in Auto, Repairs, and Billssimultaneously.

[0125] By way of further enabling example, a typical logical groupinginvolves People, Places and Activities. As part of the PersonalInformation Management Domain, MFS provides the ability to create namedcollections for places, as well as contacts and projects, around whichobjects may be grouped. A collection is defined for each contact, andfor every project currently being worked on.

[0126] As shown in FIG. 18, MFS automatically creates such collectionsand organizes your email and files by examining them for the contact orproject name. Automatic collections may be extended as desired; forexample, if contacts have nicknames it would be appropriate for theircollections to search for their nicknames as well. In a Contact window(1801) a Collection button (1802) opens the Collection that isautomatically linked (1803). Note how the Bruce Horn collection hascollected together all emails that reference “Bruce Horn” as well as allof the source files that were written by Bruce Horn in the developmentof MFS.

[0127] While metadata-query specification and key phrase matching can beviewed as database queries, collections are also dynamic: when newobjects appear, or objects are edited by the user that then satisfy themetadata query, the collections are updated immediately. The collectionsneed not be visible for this to occur, as MFS operates in thebackground. All collections are kept up to date at all times.

[0128] For example, as shown in FIG. 19, creating a new note regarding atrip to Norway this summer is automatically added to the Scandinaviacollection. The original collection (1901) does not include the note(1902) until it is created and the word Norway is noted by MFS; then itis added (1903) and hyper-linked automatically (1904).

[0129] One easy way to leverage MFS's metadata capability is to writemeaningful descriptions in the comment field for files that can besearched by collections. While some operating systems, such as Mac OS9,provide direct support for storage of comments, MFS supports commentsfor all objects whether or not the operating system does. All metadatacreated for objects within MFS is available, whether or not the hostoperating system provides such a feature.

[0130] Viewing by Reference. Because a collection specifies what objectsshould appear in the collection, objects may be in many differentcollections simultaneously if they satisfy each of the collections'specifications. This is a great benefit in that it allows the user toview data in a variety of ways. For example, a car repair bill canappear in the Car collection, the Repairs collection, and Billssimultaneously.

[0131] The more collections there are, the more different ways there areto examine and navigate through information. Each collection is definedby the user as a meaningful way to view objects in the user'sinformation space. The unique MFS cross-reference display, combined witha dynamic, time-based collection set, provides the user insight into therelationships between various objects.

[0132] This display is called view by reference. For example, the usermight want to view what has happened today: what new email has beenreceived, and what documents have been created or modified. The Todaycollection shows this in FIG. 20. The collection window (2001) is thesame as any other Collection with the exception that the query isautomatically maintained by MFS, changing as necessary.

[0133] As shown in FIG. 21, now, by switching to the reference view, theuser sees all the collections that contain objects that were created ormodified today. This is extremely useful in that it filters for onlythose collections that are relevant to Today, with no refinement (2101).Instead of showing all of the collections for all of the people that mayhave sent email in the past, the reference view shows only thecollections that have had activity today. For example, by clicking onthe Received collection (2102), the view shows the all received email(2103).

[0134] Further, as shown in FIG. 22, if the user is only interested inthe Received email today, the reference view can be further refined bydouble-clicking on the Received collection in the left pane. This movesthe Received collection to the shelf above (2201), and now only thosecollections relevant to Received email Today are visible. Clicking oneach collection in turn shows the collection's objects that fit thespecification. Selecting the Financial collection (2202) shows all theemail received today that is related to financial news (2203).

[0135] Because MFS remembers settings and views, the user can set upcollections and preferred ways of viewing them and keep them availableat all times, constantly updated. A user may prefer to always view emailthrough the Received collection, filtered by Today; if the user everchooses to view previous days' email she can always view by other timecollections such as Last Week, Last Month, or all received email.

[0136] Extensible Platform. Although many of the types of objects thatpeople use in their daily work with computers are already provided byMFS, there are many scenarios where third-parties might want to leveragethe power of MFS's desktop metaphor, single reference object storage,metadata linking functionality, and collection capabilities.

[0137] MFS provides an extension mechanism by which new object types,new views, and new capabilities are easily added to MFS such that theirfunctionality is presented as seamlessly as built-in MFS features.Extensions of this sort are provided in MFS through Domains. While theMFS email and personal information domains provide much of what thestandard user may want and are built in as basic applicationfunctionalities, other email and PIM domains can be developed thatfunction within MFS following the principles of the invention disclosedherein.

[0138] Examples of other significant domains that may be developedinclude, but are not limited to: a music jukebox, a domain that allowsthe user to organize his/her music in the same way as every other pieceof information in MFS; an extended Image cataloger domain; WebDAVsupport domain; personal finance domain; and many more. These can beeasily supported and implemented within the MFS architecture asdisclosed herein. (FIG. 23)

[0139] Description Summary. The extensible architecture of the inventivesystem enables disparate applications to share and merge information:email, contacts, notes, and so on are stored in the same data space, andcan refer and cross-index each other as needed. Separate emaildatabases, personal information management systems, and file browserscannot perform this task. All-in-one solutions, such as MicrosoftOutlook, or application suites such as Microsoft Office, are limited tothe functionality provided by the original developer, and cannot beextended by third parties. The inventive MFS-enabled computer system'scatalog mechanism provides unlimited support for new types of objectsand new metadata, regardless of the underlying file system or operatingsystem's features or lack thereof.

[0140] Being able to organize all of these disparate types ofinformation using the same mechanism provides unique benefits. Forexample, a user can maintain a collection of all correspondence to andfrom a given person or related to a particular project easily, whetherthe correspondence was via email, documents, voice mail, fax, or imagefiles. Similarly, a user may organize his information on aproject-by-project basis; because a given item may appear in manydifferent collections simultaneously, a person may work on severalprojects and their contact information will therefore appear in all ofthe relevant projects.

[0141] The system architecture and methodology in providing dynamiccollection functionality (such as time-based collections: Today,Yesterday, Last Year, and so on), combined with real-time updating andreferencing (Viewing by Reference), provides a unique and valuablemechanism for examining a user's changing information environment.

[0142] Finally, the benefits and advantages of the inventive dataorganization and archival system includes real-time updating ofcollections, which allows the software to notify the user in a varietyof ways as objects enter and leave collections. For example, the usermay want to attach a notification to a given person's collection, sothat when the user receives email from that person a particular musicalpiece is played, or a voice speaks a phrase.

[0143] By way of further description of the inventive system, thefollowing is a specific example of the use of an application program,having the functionalities outlined above which one skilled in the artwill recognize is enabled in the following description, including wherepertinent, pseudocode outlines.

[0144] Exemplary Methods of Use of the Inventive MFS-Enabled System

[0145] The following is a step-by-step description of a typical use ofthe inventive system, embodied in a computer program running on a client(user) computer with a standard operating system and file system tostore documents and other data. The use described below is of organizingand retrieving images created with a digital camera and stored on thecomputer in individual image files.

[0146] Adding Sources to the Working Set

[0147] In order to inform MFS of sources of information to track, theuser must give MFS the appropriate directions and specifications so thatMFS may find and cross-index the information. In the case of an emailsource, the user creates a mailbox within MFS and lists the internetaddresses of the servers needed (e.g. POP/SMTP or IMAP servers). In thecase of tracking information stored in files and directories in a filesystem, the user clicks on a folder in the computer's desktopapplication (the Finder in the Macintosh OS, or Explorer in MicrosoftWindows) and drags it to the workspace window to add it to MFS's workingset. Other sources will require different mechanisms.

[0148] The following describes use of MFS to manage and organize filesin a file system; in particular, image files. For example, assume that,over a period of time, a particular computer user has taken thousands ofdigital images with his/her digital camera, in various places, includingimages of various friends and family. Assume further that he/she hasalready grouped these images in folders with descriptive names such as“Crest Hike 6/01” and “Cycle Oregon 9/02”. These images may, in general,have embedded information in the form of metadata properties, such asimage size, bit depth, date on which the photo was taken, etc.

[0149] The user starts the MFS program, and, by dragging the desiredfolders of images to the MFS workspace, begins the organization process.(FIG. 24)

[0150] MFS brings up a window showing the progress of the importingprocess, while MFS scans each file and folder, recursively, in theworking set (FIG. 25a). At the end of this process, the window isremoved, and the folders appear in the Workspace. (FIG. 25b)

[0151] Viewing User Data

[0152] The user may now navigate this folder using the standard andtraditional methods of disk navigation in graphical user interfaces:double-clicking to open the folder into a new window; clicking on thedisclosure triangle to show the folder's contents in the same view; andso on. The windows display the images in a variety of ways, includingwell-known icon and list views showing icons representing either thetype of the file (such as a Photoshop JPEG file) or a miniature “slide”view (thumbnail) of the image itself. Displayed with the icon,typically, are properties of the object such as the object's physicalsize, its image dimensions, the last modified date, and so on. MFSprovides additional features for viewing the images; viewing the imageproperties (width, height, bit depth, and so on), and basic editingfeatures (rotation, for example).

[0153] MFS also provides a Workspace view (FIG. 26) in which thefollowing information is visible in four separate panes:

[0154] 1) the original folders from which the images were examined (theworking set); (2601)

[0155] 2) a list of all collections defined by MFS and the user; (2602)

[0156] 3) a content pane, which dynamically displays the contents ofwhatever item is selected in the first two views (2603). In the case ofa folder or collection, the contents of the folder or collection isshown in an icon or list view; in the case of an individual item, theitem itself is shown in detail (such as the full image, or contactinformation)

[0157] 4) and a metadata pane, which describes the currently-selecteditem's metadata, including the set of containers to which the itembelongs. (2604)

[0158] The user may double-click on any of the folders in the top-leftpane, collections in the bottom-left pane, or any item in the metadatacollection set to open them in a new window.

[0159] Two other views are available (FIG. 27): a standard window, whichdisplays the content of a folder, collection or item (2701); and acontent window (2702), which displays a list of the objects within afolder or collection on the left and the details of the selected objecton the right.

[0160] Double-clicking on any item opens a window on that item, at whichpoint the user may choose how to view the item's contents. Other data,typically considered to be the object's metadata properties (e.g. name,modification date, and so on) may be displayed by selecting the item andchoosing the Get Info command, which will bring up a custom informationwindow for each type of object that displays that object's particularproperties. For example, a music file would be able to show the musicgenre, album name, and so on, while an image file would show image widthand height, along with other image-specific metadata.

[0161] Folders and collections may be viewed in a list format with thesticky path view, described above. This provides dynamic pathinformation to the items you are viewing as you scroll through ahierarchical (folders within folders) list. (FIG. 28)

[0162] Creating a Collection

[0163] By selecting the New Collection command, the user creates a newcollection for organizing the images. (FIG. 29) Two windows are thenopened: the first showing the contents of the untitled empty collection,and the second, above, showing the information about the collectionincluding the collection's title (2901). The user then types in a namefor the collection—for example, “Western Travel”—and closes the window.The main collection window remains (2902), and an icon for thecollection is created in the Workspace collection pane (2903).

[0164] Manually Categorizing Objects into Collections

[0165] The user may now view images from any of the source folders, andby dragging their icon representations to either the collection windowor the icon representation in the Workspace, add those images to thecollection. This does not move the images, nor modify them in any way;it simply updates the links in the catalog indicating that they belongto the collection. Items from any source may be dragged in this way toany collection, and items may belong to more than one collection at atime. (FIG. 30)

[0166] The user may also quickly create a collection of images byselecting the images and choosing the Collect command; this gatherstogether the images into a collection, which then may be renamed by theuser.

[0167] Items may be re-categorized into different collections bydragging them to the new collections directly. Also, items may beremoved from a collection by choosing the Remove command, which removesthe items from the collection but does not otherwise delete the itemfrom the source (e.g. the file system) or any other collections.

[0168] Creating a Collection with a Metadata Specification Query

[0169] Once the user has told MFS which information on the disk shouldbe tracked, independent collections based on the metadata of images, saythe width or height properties, may be made of the items imported aswell. These collections are the same collections as described before,with the additional specification of a metadata query.

[0170] For example, say that the user would like to collect all imagesthat have a width of 1600 pixels and a height of 1200 pixels. The userwould then do the following:

[0171] Choose New Collection from the File menu. A window opens, showingthe contents of the untitled empty collection, and a Get-Info sub-windowopens above that with information about the collection.

[0172] The user selects the “untitled” text and changes it to “1600×1200Images”. Then the user clicks on the Query tab. An empty query appears.The user clicks on the popup menu and chooses Image.

[0173] The user clicks on the (+) button, creating a term in the query.The user clicks on the first popup, choosing the “Width” property. Theuser clicks on the second popup, choosing the “Equals” property. Theuser types 1600 into the text field.

[0174] Then, then user clicks on the (+) button again, creating a secondterm, and clicks on the OR popup menu. The user then performs similaroperations to choose “Height Equals”, and types 1200 into the text box.

[0175] Finally, the user closes the Get Info subwindow, and theappropriate images appear in the collection window. (FIG. 31)

[0176] Creating a Collection with a Key Phrase List

[0177] Another variant of the collection is one that collects items thatinclude in their textual properties specific key phrases. For example, aScandinavia collection may be quickly created by specifying a collectionthat includes the key phrases “Oslo”, “Norway”, “Bergen”, “Copenhagen”,“the little mermaid,” and so on. Items with textual properties, such asa file comment or the contents of a text file that include any of thesewill be gathered into the collection.

[0178] Synchronizing with Changes

[0179] From time to time, the user may want to ensure that the datahe/she is viewing from within MFS is consistent with the data from theoutside sources, such as the file system. The user may then choose theUpdate command to tell MFS that it should synchronize its mirrored datastructures with those elsewhere (such as the file system, the emailservers, and so on). MFS will then update all information stored in thecatalog and object store as required; the user will simply see thechanges in the items (e.g. new items in a folder window; changed names;etc.) as they are discovered.

[0180] Overview of Specific Functional Modules Enabling the InventiveSystem

[0181] An exemplary MFS-enabled computer system to implement theinventive information management features comprises the followingelements from which one skilled in the art will be enabled to make anduse MFS:

[0182] a computer system as described above including a CPU, one or moreinput peripheral a display device and an operating system;

[0183] an object store data structure in which data is storedpersistently on a device such as a disk drive;

[0184] a set of foundation objects that define items, containers, andcollections, and which may be refined for particular uses;

[0185] a catalog data structure in which foundation objects and theirproperties are maintained, using the object store for reading andwriting low-level data;

[0186] a set of consistency maintenance threads that manage informationflow through the system, comprising at least one of each of: an updater,which is responsible for maintaining correct metadata for objects; anotifier, which manages dependency relationships between objects; aclassifier, which assigns objects to containers and collections based ontheir property values; and a synchronizer, which is responsible forwriting changed metadata back to the object store.

[0187] a display and layout system, consisting of window managementroutines; scenes for displaying groups of objects; figures for eachobject's display; forms for defining figure layout of properties; and aset of views for displaying various types of content data; and

[0188] a set of domains, which define objects and behaviors fordifferent information-management tasks such as personal informationmanagement (contacts, appointments, and so on); file management (files,folders, documents, and so on); and also define scanners and matchers,which are responsible for scanning external data sources, creating andupdating reference objects for each of the external objects that will bemanaged within MFS.

[0189]FIG. 32 describes in overview the communications between thesemodules. The object store (3201) sets and gets values, communicatingwith the synchronizer (3202). The catalog (3203) reads and writes valuesthrough the synchronizer to the catalog's property B-Trees when valueschange. The updater (3204) determines what the values of propertiesshould be for various objects, and is notified by the notifier (3205)when the synchronizer (3202) writes changes to the object store (3201).The classifier (3206) determines what collections objects should be in,and runs when the notifier (3205) tells it of changes. It then writesnew values for object's container list causing the catalog (3203) towrite back the container list through the synchronizer (3202) andfinally to the object store (3201).

[0190] The Object Store

[0191] The fundamental storage mechanism for MFS architecture is anobject-oriented data-base, or the object store, that provides permanentand temporary storage facilities for low-level objects. This objectstore is capable of saving and restoring the complete state of anyobject, thus providing a persistent repository of the user'sinformation.

[0192] Implementation. Object classes are registered with the objectstore at program initialization time, in order to inform the objectstore of the classes of objects that may be created by reading from thestore. When an object is requested, the object store looks up the classof the object, which is noted in the data header of the object in thestore, and requests that the object be created by the class.

[0193] A class whose instances can be stored in the object store providesix basic operations: Initialize, StreamIn, StreamOut, StreamLength,Reference, and Finalize.

[0194] Initialize is called by the object store after the object is readinto memory to allow it to perform any one-time setup that is required.

[0195] StreamIn, StreamOut, StreamLength are functions that are calledto ask the object to create a flattened representation of the object'sinformation. This may include references to other objects, values, orraw data. These operations are called by the object store when creatingan object to initialize the object's state from a stream of data readfrom the store, or to transform the object into a flat stream of datafor writing out to the store. In this way each object class specifiesthe particular information that must be written in order that the objectmay be completely recreated at a future time.

[0196] Reference is called by the object store to traverse an object'sreference tree. If a given object has references to any other objects,Reference must be defined to provide access to these references. This isused to attach recursively all objects that are referenced by a givenobject when the main object is attached to the object store. Similarly,when an object is detached the object store detaches all objectsreferenced by it that are referenced by that object. This operationallows the object store to determine where references to other objectsoccur within a given object, to allow objects within the store tocontain other objects as parts.

[0197] Finalize is called just before the object is written out to theobject store. It allows the object to perform any final cleanup beforethe object ceases to exist in memory.

[0198] Objects are attached to the object store to allow them to bestored persistently within the object store, and are detached from theobject store when they are no longer persistent. Objects have a UID thatis unique in the object store that never changes during the life of theprogram. Objects may be referenced and loaded from the object store byusing this UID. The object store automatically calls the correctconstructor for creating an object given an object's UID by looking upthe object's class, which also resides in the object store.

[0199] All storable objects maintain a reference count for memorymanagement. Objects that are attached to the object store may be writtento the object store and removed from memory when their reference countsreach one (e.g. are only referenced by the object store). Objects thatare not attached to the object store are reclaimed when their referencecounts reach zero. Circular references are not detected nor managed inany way. A special smart pointer structure keeps track of when objectsare being used in the program, and increments and decrements thereference count as needed. This structure maintains a pointer to theobject and a reference count when the object is in memory, and a UID andpointer to the current object store when the object has not yet beenloaded.

[0200] Foundation Objects

[0201] An MFS Object is something that can be organized, sorted,searched for, and otherwise manipulated by the user in MFS. MFS Objectsrepresent entities that encapsulate a given kind of information: emailmessages, mailboxes, image files, text documents, and so on. Objectshave intrinsic data and type (e.g. an object may be an email message)and also have attached property values.

[0202] Reference Objects. Reference objects are mapped from the externalworld by the creation of an identifier, the UUID that uniquely specifiesa given external object. Each object type is responsible for thecreation of the UID. By way of example, a file may create a UUID byusing the file system's file ID or inode, combined with the volume'screation date. This allows a fast and reliable mapping between anexternal entity and one stored within MFS; this is needed, for example,when a file has changed on disk and MFS needs to find the internalrepresentation to update the object's properties.

[0203] Containers. Containers group objects together. There are manydifferent kinds of containers: disk volume, folder, and collection, byway of example. Each kind of container has different properties: afolder groups objects together physically, and a collection groupsobjects together logically, based on the user's specification.

[0204] Each object maintains a set of the containers in which it appearsas a property of the object, called pContainers; similarly, allcontainers maintain a set of objects that appear in the container,called pObjects. Other properties are computed from these, such aspObjectCount, which is computed from the pObject property. Theseproperties define some of the basic link-metadata stored for all objectsin the MFS.

[0205] Collections. Collections group objects together logically, ratherthan physically, as folders in file systems do. Rather than specifyingwhere an object is (e.g. in the folder named “Leslie's Finances”),collections allow the user to specify which objects should be groupedtogether in a variety of ways. Collections are containers, like foldersor directories, in that they can be open-ed to display their contents,but they differ in that they:

[0206] contain objects from a variety of locations;

[0207] contain objects of a variety of types (e.g. not just files orfolders);

[0208] can have objects manually categorized by being added to thecollection, or removed from the collection, without moving the originalobjects themselves;

[0209] can display dynamic, changing contents, updated in real time,based on a working set;

[0210] can automatically collect objects based on a specification,similar to a database query, by which objects are selected by Booleancombinations of property terms and operators;

[0211] and can also automatically collect objects based on a key phrasesearch of the objects' textual properties, including its contents.

[0212] By way of example, a collection may have files from both thelocal file system and email messages fetched from a server; images froma digital camera may be manually classified by the user into namedcollections such as “Summer Vacation” and “Kids”; different sizes ofdigital images can be automatically classified as they are added to theworking set into “4×6” and “8×10” collections by specifying differentwidth and height queries for the given collections; and a collection forobjects that have something to do with Scandinavia might have a set ofkey phrases defined that include the names of Scandinavian countries,cities, and geographical areas (See FIG. 15).

[0213] Like containers, collections have the link metadata propertypObjects that is a set of reference objects that belong to thecollection. Collections also have additional link-metadata propertiescalled pInsiders and pOutsiders, and use additional link metadataproperties in reference objects called pInclusions and pExclusions.

[0214] PInsiders is a property that contains the set of referenceobjects that always belong to the collection, regardless of any othercollection specification. Similarly, pInclusions is the set ofcollections to which a given reference object belongs, again, regardlessof any other action by a collection to select the object. This permitsmanual inclusion (categorization) of objects by MFS into collectionsthat persists despite any automatic collection processes, such ascollecting objects by metadata or key phrase query. Manuallycategorizing an object by adding it specifically to a given collectionresults in the following changes to the link-metadata:

[0215] The object's pInclusions and pContainers properties are modified,to insert the given collection to each set;

[0216] The collection's pInsiders and pObjects properties are similarlymodified, to insert the given object into each set.

[0217] Automatic classification of objects into collections is done whenthe collection's pQuery property, which defines the Boolean metadataspecification for objects belonging to the collection, is set to anon-empty value by the user. Setting the pKeyPhrases property alsotriggers automatic classification by key phrases. This begins theclassification process:

[0218] 1) First, the collection's pObjects property is invalidated. Thisadds the collection to the Updater thread, which then requests thecollection to update its metadata.

[0219] 2) The collection determines that its pObjects property isinvalid. The collection asks the catalog to perform the query on thecontents of the catalog, returning a set of reference objects that matchthe query.

[0220] 3) If the pKeyPhrases property is not empty, then the catalogalso returns a set of reference objects whose textual properties (e.g.name, textual contents, etc.) contain one or more of the key phrases.

[0221] 4) The union of these two sets of objects is compared to thecurrent set of objects that is the value of the pObjects property. Thiscomparison returns a set of added objects, removed objects, and objectsthat persisted in the collection.

[0222] 5) For each added object, the object's pContainers property isupdated by inserting the collection, and the collection's pObjectsproperty is updated by inserting the object from the set;

[0223] 6) For each removed object, the object's pContainers property isupdated by removing the collection, and the collection's pObjectsproperty is updated by removing the object from the set;

[0224] 7) By setting the pObjects property for the collection, and thepContainers properties for the added and removed objects, the catalogcreates notify events for each affected object; these events are handledby the notifier, causing affected windows to redraw as required.

[0225] In this way, the link metadata is updated so that both objectmetadata specifies container membership, and containers (in this case,collections) have metadata specifying the objects that belong to them.

[0226] Collections respond to changes in the environment by adding andremoving objects as needed to satisfy their specification. This occursin real time as objects change their properties (e.g. their names ortextual content), as new objects are created or added to the workingset, or as objects are deleted or removed from the working set. Forexample, if the user adds a comment to a file object and there exists acollection that specifies a key phrase that occurs in that object'scomment, then the object will be immediately added to the collection.This is done by the classifier thread, described below.

[0227] For each object to be reclassified, all collection specificationsare evaluated, resulting in a new set of collections for the changedobject. For key phrases, the classifier can return all matchingcollections in one pass: key phrases are compiled into a graph, withterminal nodes listing all matching collections. Novel use of theAho-Corasick algorithm allows text to be scanned efficiently, returningall matching collections into which the object will be classified. Then,the following MFS process occurs:

[0228] 1) The set of collections is compared to the object's pContainersproperty, resulting in three subsets: added, removed, and persistentobjects. The pInclusions set is also inserted to the added set, and thepExclusions set inserted to the removed set, to ensure that manualclassifications are taken into account;

[0229] 2) For each added container, the object adds itself to thecollection in the manner described above: updating its pContainersproperty by inserting the collection, and updating the collection'spObjects property by inserting itself;

[0230] 3) For each removed container, the object removes itself from thecollection in the manner described above; updating its pContainersproperty by removing the collection, and updating the collection'spObjects property by removing itself.

[0231] 4) Setting these properties causes the catalog to enqueue eventson the notifier, which then causes windows to be appropriately updated(e.g. the contents of collection windows).

[0232] These processes will be described in more detail below.

[0233] The Catalog

[0234] An object may have an arbitrary number of property valuesattached to it in the form of MFS metadata. Property values can betextual, date, numeric, Boolean, type, or image values, among others.The catalog manages the definition of metadata (e.g. the property namesand types), and the linking of objects to their property values.

[0235] Implementation. The catalog database structure stores an object'sproperties by providing a property object that contains a B-Tree tostore the property values. The property object is stored in the objectstore and maintains certain information such as the property name,whether the property is a sortable or searchable property, the order ofsorting, the property's data type, whether changing the property shouldnotify other objects, the B-Tree itself, and so on. The object storeprovides a function to retrieve an object by name; thus, if the propertypModificationDate is required, the object store is called to retrievethe object by providing the name “Modification Date,” which is theproperty object itself. The property B-Tree data structure is alsostored in the object store, and maps the object's UID to the propertyvalue for that object. In this way a new property can be added at anytime, simply by creating a new property object and corresponding B-Treein the object store. New property values for an existing property arealso easily added, by first finding the correct property object andB-Tree, and then by inserting a value for an object's unique ID intothat B-Tree.

[0236] Values are flattened into streams of data to be stored in theB-Tree. The value can have any length; the B-Tree node is variablelength depending on the lengths of the values stored within the node.

[0237] As object MFS metadata is written through the catalog, thecatalog maintains a value cache, mapping objects and properties toproperty values, as well as a change set that maps objects to a set ofproperties that have been changed. The values in the value cache areeventually written back to the property B-Trees via the synchronizer, byusing the change set to determine which values need to be written.

[0238] The catalog is also responsible for notifying other parts of theMFS system of changes in objects via the consistency maintenanceprocesses. When an object's property is written, the value is comparedwith the value as stored in the catalog. If the value is different, anevent is created and posted to a notification queue described later inthis document.

[0239] Consistency Maintenance

[0240] MFS provides a sophisticated architecture for maintaining objectproperty values and information displays correct by supporting athreaded dataflow mechanism that processes events. In particular, thecatalog provides change notification, such that when objects changetheir property values by setting them in the catalog, a process isstarted to tell all potential users of that object of the change. Forexample, when an object is added to or removed from a collection, allobjects that are affected by that change are notified, in particular thecollection's window.

[0241] Objects may depend on the property values of other objects. Inthe process of updating one object, others may be notified of thechange; and when a property value changes, dependents are notified andspecific dependent properties are then made invalid, to be updated bythe updater thread.

[0242] For example, the physical size of a folder depends on thephysical size of all the objects contained in that folder. Those objectsmay be files or other folders. The folder is thus a dependent of all theitems in the folder, and thus is notified if any of them change so thatit may recompute as required.

[0243] In this way, any changes to objects can be tracked and valuespropagated to dependent objects. For example, in a personal financeapplication, the values of checks written must be taken into accountwhen balancing the checkbook; reconciling the checkbook involvespropagating values from reconciled checks to the current balance.

[0244] Implementation details. The consistency maintenance process is acomposite process by which objects are created; their propertiescomputed and set; their collections determined through classification;their dependents notified of the changes; and finally, deleted when nolonger used.

[0245] There are four separate processes that communicate between oneanother and provide distinct services: the updater, the synchronizer,the notifier, and the classifier. Each process communicates with theothers by means of an event queue: a queue of events describing tasks tohandle in order. Events on the event queue specify the informationneeded by each process to perform the required function.

[0246] Objects maintain a set of properties in an update set that needto be refetched from the original source (via the domain) or recomputed.When this set is changed due to the object invalidating an individualproperty through the Invalidate function, the object asks the catalog toadd the object to the updater's queue.

[0247] Values are stored temporarily in a value cache, keyed by propertyand UID. Periodically the cache is synchronized with the value treesstored in the object store. At this time a notification event is queuedon the notifier thread.

[0248] The notifier thread's job is to tell interested listeners whichobjects have been changed, and which properties of those objects.Listeners include dependent objects (e.g. containers may want to knowthat they have to invalidate their physical sizes if any of theircontained objects had changed size) and user interface elements (windowsdisplaying object information).

[0249] The Updater. The updater is the process by which invalid objectproperties are computed and new values set for future retrieval. Theupdater walks through the update queue and tells each object to updateits properties. This is a two-part process, involving two functions:Fetch and Compute, as follows:

[0250] Fetch, causes the object to find the needed property values fromtheir original sources. These are considered concrete properties in thatthere is a direct one-to-one correspondence between the property valuefor the object and a value stored elsewhere in the operating system. Forexample, if a file object's name is invalid, Fetch will ask the file'sdomain to get the filename from the file system directly; and

[0251] Compute, updates properties that are derived from the concreteproperties. For example, a derived property called pFullName might bethe concatenation of pFirstName and pLastName in a contact record; or,the physical size of a folder might be the sum of the sizes of theobjects within the folder.

[0252] During the Fetch and Compute methods, the object will callSetValue(property, value) on the properties for which it has determinedvalues. SetValue tells the catalog that the property for this object hasthe given value, and the catalog will store it away.

[0253] In the process of storing the value for the object, the catalogdetermines whether the object actually changed the value; if the valuebeing set was the same as the previous value, then nothing occurs. Ifthe value did in fact change, the property is added to an update setmaintained for that object. More specifically, the updater performs thefollowing procedure, illustrated in FIG. 33:

[0254] 1) First, the updater retrieves an update event from the updaterevent queue (3301). The update event record consists of an objectspecifier and a set of properties that require updating for that object:the invalid set.

[0255] 2) Next, the updater forwards the invalid set to the object(3302), and requests that the object Fetch the given properties (3303).It is the object's responsibility to know how to do this, since for eachtype of object this procedure may be different. Then the updaterrequests the object Compute derived properties (3304) that may be basedon the properties fetched (e.g. the physical size of a folder is derivedfrom the sum of the sizes of each object in the folder).

[0256] 3) During the Fetch and Compute procedures, the object beingupdated will set the property values that were requested (3305). Insetting the value for the given object and property, the catalog storesthe object and its new property and value in the synchronizer's datastructure (typically a hash table) (3306), and then updates a change set(3307): a set of objects and associated properties that have beenchanged. This change set will be referenced by the synchronizer later inthe process.

[0257] The Synchronizer. The synchronizer is the process by whichobjects' updated property values are written back to the object store.On a periodic interval, the synchronizer will perform the followingprocedure, illustrated in FIG. 34:

[0258] For each object in the catalog's change set (3401), thesynchronizer will walk through the value cache (3402), where it willfetch the current (old) value (3403) and new (cached) value (3404)compare the object's property value with the current value in theproperty B-Tree (3405). If the value is different, the new value willreplace the old (3406) and the property will remain in the value cache.If the value is the same, the property will be removed from the changeset (3407).

[0259] When the object's values have been synchronized with the valuesstored in the object store, a notifier object changed event is createdand added to the notifier's event queue (3408, 3409). This eventincludes the object specifier and the set of properties for which newvalues were written. Note that properties whose values were the samewere removed from the set, so only properties with new values remainedin the set and are in the notification.

[0260] The Notifier. The notifier is the process by which otherprocesses, and objects, are notified of additions, changes, and removalof objects in the system. Concurrently, the notifier performs thefollowing procedure, illustrated in FIG. 35:

[0261] 1) The next notifier event is removed from the notifier eventqueue (3501). There are three different types of notifier events: anobject added event, which is queued by another thread when an object isfirst created in the system; an object changed event, which is enqueuedby the synchronizer when an object's property values are changed; and anobject removed event, which is enqueued when an object is removed fromthe system.

[0262] 2) The notifier then broadcasts the event to all listeners bygoing through the subscriber set (3502), copying the event (3503), andenqueuing the event on the subscriber's queue (3504). One of the typicalsubscribers is the classifier (3505), which receives events anddetermines whether the object needs to be reclassified.

[0263] 3) If the event is an object changed event (3506), then theobject itself is subsequently notified of the change (3507). This isdone by computing dependent properties (3508), invalidating them (3509),and queuing an update event (3510) to the updater (3511) so that theyare refetched and recomputed. The effect of this is that the object canthen notify its own dependents, such as figures depicting the object onthe screen, or other objects whose properties are dependent onproperties of the original object.

[0264] Dependent properties allow the object to invalidate certainproperties that are computed from other properties that had changed; forexample, a container may invalidate its physical size property if itsobject set property had changed. Invalidating one or more of an object'sproperties in this way will result in the object in turn being placed onthe updater's event queue as described, for further processing tocompute the desired properties.

[0265] Other parts of the MFS system can subscribe to the notifierthread at any time. For example, when an object is displaying propertiesin a window, the window management system in MFS temporary subscribes tothe notifier thread so that it may update the window contents when theobject changes, such as the object's containers.

[0266] The Classifier. The classifier is the process by which objectsare added to and removed from collections based on their propertyvalues. Concurrently, the classifier performs the following procedure,described in FIG. 36:

[0267] The next classifier event is removed from the classifier's eventqueue (3601). Since the classifier is subscribed to the notifier, itreceives notifier events when objects are added to the system; whenobjects change their property values; and when objects are removed. Ineach of these cases the classifier is responsible for determining theset of containers (folders, collections, or other specific containers)to which the object belongs.

[0268] 1) If the event is an object added event (3602), then theclassifier determines the set of containers to which the object belongsand creates an added set and an empty removed set (3603).

[0269] 2) If the event is an object changed event (3604), then theclassifier performs the following procedure (3605). First, the existingcontainer set is retrieved. Next, the object is classified, resulting ina set of containers to which the object should now belong. Next, thesetwo sets are compared, resulting in the added set, which includescontainers to which the object should be added; and the removed set,containers from which the object should be removed.

[0270] 3) If the event is an object removed event (3606), then theclassifier creates an empty added set, and sets the removed set to theobject's container set (3607).

[0271] 4) Finally, the object is added to the containers in the addedset (3608), and removed from containers in the removed set (3609).

[0272] In this way, each object referenced in the classifier event queueends up in the correct set of containers that select for its currentproperty values.

[0273] Classification of a Single Object

[0274] The classifier determines container membership for an objectthrough the process described in FIG. 37:

[0275] Initially, the result set, which contains the set of containersto which the object should belong, is set to empty (3701). T hen theclassifier asks the object's source (e.g. the File or EMail domain) toperform an initial classification of the object (3702), resulting in anew result set. The Files domain, by way of example, would add a fileobject to its enclosing folder.

[0276] Objects can be classified into collections by specifying in eachcollection a list of key phrases whose occurrence in an object meansthat the object should be referenced in the collection. A collection mayhave many key phrases, and the same key phrases may be specified in manydifferent collections. The MFS-configured computer system's key phraseclassifier performs a single-pass, multiplex sorting of a given objectinto an unlimited number of collections based on the pKeyPhrasesproperties defined in those collections and the textual content of theobject.

[0277] The classifier runs through each text property in the object(3703) and for each property goes through each key phrase in theclassifier (3704) determining whether the key phrase exists in theproperty's value text (3705). If so, it adds the entire set ofcollections associated with the key phrase, since a single key phrasemay be listed by multiple collections (3706).

[0278] The key phrase classifier is based on a novel use andimplementation of the Aho-Corasick string search algorithm. Theclassifier begins by scanning each collection when MFS is launched, andadds each key phrase to the Aho-Corasick finite state machine. At theterminal nodes for each key phrase is a list of collections that specifythat phrase; as the collections are scanned and each key phrase isadded, the list of collections at each key phrase is kept up to datewith all collections that specify it.

[0279] All objects maintain a list of collections in which they occur.Classification is accomplished by scanning the text body of an objectusing the Aho-Corasick algorithm. When a key phrase is found within thetext, the list of collections for that phrase is fetched from thefinite-state machine and united to a final (list or set) of collectionsin which this object should appear. When the entire text body has beenscanned, the final set is compared with the initial set. For collectionsthat appear in both sets, nothing is done. For collections that appearin the initial set but not the final set, the object is removed fromthose collections. For collections that appear in the final set but notin the initial set, the object is added to those collections. Finally,the object's collection set becomes the final set, reflecting thatobject's membership in those sets.

[0280] Next, the classifier goes through each collection (3707) anddetermines if the object satisfies the query specified by the collection(3708). If so, the collection is inserted into the result set (3709).

[0281] Finally, the result set is returned (3710) and the object isplaced into the collections listed in same.

[0282] View by Reference

[0283] A container C (folder, collection, or any other container) isviewed by reference using the following process.

[0284] 1) An empty result set R is created.

[0285] 2) For each object in the container C, the set of collections towhich that object belongs is added to the result set.

[0286] 3) A new container V representing the reference view, is created.

[0287] 4) For each collection A in the result set R, a new proxycollection P is created, where-by the contents of the proxy collection Pis simply the objects in C that are also in the collection A; this isdone through a set intersection of the collection A and the container C.Generally, this proxy collection is simply defined by an MFS metadataquery on P which states that the contents of the proxy collection arethe intersection of the contents of collection A and container C.

[0288] 5) The final container V that is the reference view now containsa set of proxy collections, each of which holds a subset of the originalobjects in C.

[0289] The reference view may then be further refined by choosing aproxy collection P's contents (a subset of C's) to view by reference.This is done as follows:

[0290] 1) The reference view V adds P to its prefix set.

[0291] 2) V replaces its proxy collections with new proxy collections,using the same process as above, but with one difference: each proxycollection's MFS metadata query now states that the contents of theproxy collection are the intersection of the contents of collection A,container C, and all the collections in V's prefix set.

[0292] In this way, a view of the “Today” collection, which shows theobjects modified today, can more easily be viewed by reference, whichshows that (for example) the Received email collection was changedtoday, as well as the Documentation project. Clicking on the Receivedproxy collection in the view reveals email objects received today;further refining by Received will show the collections in which emailwas received today: typically a list of the contacts from whom email wasreceived.

[0293] Display and Layout

[0294] MFS provides an architecture for display and layout of objects ina variety of ways. Individual objects are viewed in content viewersdefined by each domain, which is responsible for the individual objecttypes. Viewing containers of objects (e.g. collections or folders inicon or list views) is based on three classes of objects: forms,figures, and scenes. A unique type of list view is implemented by MFS'ssticky paths mechanism.

[0295] Content Viewers. For each specific type of object, a contentviewer is available for viewing the actual object data. By way ofexample, contact objects are displayed in a window showing first andlast names, addresses, and so on. Email messages have their own specificviewer, with the standard to, from, and body panes within the window.Text files or notes are displayed in a standard text-editing window.

[0296] In the case of content viewers that provide text fields, keyphrases can be highlighted automatically when examining the object'scontents and provide a hyperlink to the defining collectionautomatically. If multiple collections specify a given key phrase, thepopup menu will list all collections that do so, allowing the user tochoose which collection should be opened.

[0297] An object that has been classified into several differentcontainers will indicate this in the Information window, where all ofthe containers are listed and may be opened.

[0298] Forms. A form is a 2-dimensional layout of property values of asingle object. For example, a standard icon view includes two fields:the icon property situated and centered above the name property. A listview form will include a left to right arrangement of the object's icon,name, and additional properties as required by the display. Forms areused by figures to determine the appearance of the object in the window.

[0299] Figures. A figure is a drawable entity representing an object.Figures are linked to forms, which define how the figure should bedrawn. Figures also provide the ability to be highlighted when clicked;to have their properties edited directly, such as the name in an iconview; and to be dragged from one place to another within the MFSinterface. Figures are arranged within scenes, which determine whereeach figure should be located.

[0300] Scenes. A scene is an arrangement of figures in 2 or 2½dimensions (2½ dimensions include a representation of depth). The sceneis generally responsible for determining the form the figures within thescene should take; thus, MFS defines a small icon scene whereby the formdefines a small rectangle for the icon property and a rectangle to itsright for the name property; a large icon scene with the icon rectangleabove the name rectangle; variants on the previous; and a preview scenewhere the object's preview property is drawn within a slide frame, alongwith the object's name, size and modification date; and various listviews, among others.

[0301] The scene is also responsible for locating each figure within thescene based on certain conditions. For example, in the small icon scenethe objects are sorted by a given property (chosen by the user) and thenlaid out top-down, left-to-right in the window; scrolling to the rightshows additional figures. The large icon scene lays out the figuresleft-to-right, then top-down in the window; scrolling down showsadditional figures.

[0302] The user typically chooses which scene to display objects in, byselecting an item in the View menu. Unique and specialized scenes may bedefined by domains as well, if needed.

[0303] Sticky Paths

[0304] Sticky paths are a unique way of displaying hierarchies ofobjects within MFS. Often hierarchies of objects are displayed in a sortof outline view, whereby objects are listed in some order (typicallyalphabetical), and sub-objects that are contained in other objects maybe displayed or hidden at the user's control. An object that containsother objects in this way may be either expanded (displaying itssub-objects) or collapsed (hiding them). Each object has a depth, anumeric value that describes how far down the hierarchy it exists; inparticular, how many nodes down the hierarchy tree from the root.Objects at the same depth are known as siblings. The depth determineshow far the object is indented to the right in the outline display.

[0305] When an object is collapsed, any object that contains others isindicated in some way with a clickable region, typically a symbol suchas a + sign or a triangle, that may be clicked. Clicking on the regionexpands the object by displaying those objects which are containedwithin below the object and indented to the right by a specific amount,due to their depth being one greater than the depth of the parentobject. Other objects that were at the same level as the object beingexpanded are moved down the display by the amount needed by the expandedobject.

[0306] Objects within an expanded object may in turn be expanded,resulting in several levels of expanded objects and multipleindentations.

[0307] The path to an object is defined as the name of the objectitself, prefixed by the names of the nested containers in which theobject exists in outermost order. For example, if an object E iscontained in an object D, and in turn D is contained in C, and C iscontained in B, the path to the object E is generally described asB:C:D:E.

[0308] In a highly-hierarchical display with many objects that do notfit on a single screen, the user must scroll the hierarchy display inorder to see objects lower down on the list. In particular, if someobjects have many sub-objects which are in turn expanded to show theirrespective sub-objects, it is quite easy to forget what part of thehierarchy one is looking at, i.e., where the user is on the path, sincethe enclosing objects have scrolled off the top of the display.

[0309] Sticky paths are a mechanism by which a scrollable outline ofthis form is displayed in two dynamic parts: a path area and ascrollable area. Sticky paths provide the user with a constant awarenessof his location in the hierarchy by:

[0310] 1) constantly displaying the current path to the topmost item inthe scrollable area above the scrollable area, and dynamically updatingthe path as the objects are scrolled up and down;

[0311] 2) dynamically resizing the scrollable area to accommodate thepath display.

[0312] Implementation Details. The sticky path scrolling mechanism isimplemented, by way of example, in the following pseudocode:

[0313] 1) Get the old path frame from the current display.

[0314] 2) Get a list of container objects that comprise the path to thetopmost figure in the outline. Do this by determining the object at thetop of the scrolling region, and then walking up the outline item'sparent tree until there are no more parents.

[0315] 3) Set the path display by starting at the top of the list anddrawing each parent in turn, indented appropriate to the parent's depth.

[0316] 4) Get the size of the new path frame.

[0317] 5) Determine the difference between the heights of the old andnew frames.

[0318] 6) If the difference is zero, then the size of the path hasn'tchanged, and the bits can be scrolled within the scrolling region.

[0319] 7) If there is a difference in height, then we first adjust thesize and location of the scrolling region based on the amount of thechange.

[0320] 8) If the difference is greater than zero (e.g. the path issmaller than it had been previously), then we don't scroll, but we dohave to refresh the topmost figures of the area that was vacated whenthe path region was made smaller.

[0321] 9) If the difference is less than zero (e.g. the path is largerthan it had been previously) then the resizing of the scrolling regionis sufficient, and no scrolling is necessary since the topmost figure inthe scrolling region will have been moved up into the vacated path area.

[0322] In this way, the current path to the topmost item is alwaysvisible.

[0323] Domains

[0324] Domains define an “area of expertise” for MFS. Typical domainsinclude personal information management (appointments and contacts);file management (folders, files, disks); image file management (alsoknown as digital as set management); and email, among others. Domainsprovide a way to extend MFS's capabilities and functions by leveragingMFS's architecture in new ways.

[0325] A domain is responsible for implementing the followingprocedures:

[0326] Registration of new object classes and properties for same;

[0327] Creation of new objects of specific classes when needed;

[0328] Creating and managing UUID mappings between reference objects andexternal data;

[0329] Adding metadata properties to objects;

[0330] Basic classification of objects by class and property values;

[0331] Updating of object metadata in response to changes in theoperating environment; and

[0332] Performing basic operations on behalf of objects that the domainmanages.

[0333] The following describes these procedures for domains definingfile management, email handling, music organization, personalinformation management, image management, and organization by time.

[0334] The File Domain. This domain registers new object classes fordisks, folders, and files. The properties that are registered includefile and folder names; creation date; modification date; physical size;and permissions, among others.

[0335] The domain is also responsible for scanning folder and fileobjects, and resolving changes with the objects on the disk as the diskcontents change. For example, when a folder's modification date differsfrom its corresponding object in MFS, the domain compares the folder'scontents with the contents of the folder object, and creates or deletesfile and folder objects in the folder object as required to matchexactly the contents of the disk folder. Similarly, if a file'smodification date changes, its corresponding file object is updated withthe current filename, modification date, size, and so on in order tomirror exactly the file's property values.

[0336] Certain file types are handled specially by this domain. Inparticular, application and document files must have the appropriateicons associated with them, and behaviors such as opening a documentmust be defined to launch the correct application.

[0337] This domain provides window layouts for information about filesand folders, and utilizes built-in MFS windows for displaying foldercontents. Window layouts for certain types of files also are supported,including text files and clippings.

[0338] All sources provide the ability to scan external data to addinformation to the Working Set, and match the external data to updateMFS's internal reference objects as the external data changes. By way ofexample we describe the File domain's implementation details of thesetwo processes.

[0339] Implementation Details. The File domain is notified of files toadd to the Working Set as follows. The user drags a folder to MFS'sworkspace window; this causes a reference object is created for thefolder by the specific source handling the folder; in this case, Filesource, which is responsible for all file system objects. Next, ascanner thread is created with the reference object as a parameter. Thisthread performs the following functions, in order:

[0340] 1) Traverse: A procedure recursively descends the folderhierarchy, creating data entries that are stored in an array. Each entrycontains a file system specifier that represents the file; a depth inthe folder hierarchy; and a flag that determines whether the file systemspecifier is for a folder or a file. The array is then sorted, deepestobjects in the tree first (so that files within a folder are createdbefore the folder is).

[0341] 2) Annotate: Once this array has been populated, the entries areannotated with metadata that can be efficiently fetched “en masse”, suchas file and folder comments.

[0342] 3) Create: The entries are fetched one by one from the array. Foreach entry, a reference object is created with the entry's information(e.g. the file specifier and any metadata that was previously fetchedand added to the catalog). A new array of reference objects is created.

[0343] 4) Classify: Each object in the array is then classified byexamining its metadata and determining in which collections the objectbelongs, based on the collections' specifications. Every collection thatis modified (e.g. that has received a new object through theclassification process) is added to yet a third array for notification.

[0344] 5) Notify: Finally, each collection that participated in theclassify step is notified that it has been changed. This typicallyresults in the collection updating dependent property values (e.g. countof contained objects), which are then updated in a separate thread.

[0345] Then, the folder reference object is then added to the HFSsource's working set, which is the set of all folders that MFS shouldmanage. The Workspace window is then updated, since the working setproperty determines which folders are shown in the window.

[0346] Because the file system data that the File source tracks changesover time, the File source has the ability to match these changes andpropagate them throughout the catalog and object store. This is done asfollows:

[0347] 1) During the match process, MFS compares its stored informationagainst the source's versions of the same information. If there is anindication of difference between a reference object in MFS and theactual external object (by noting a changed modification date, forexample), MFS invalidates the reference object's metadata.

[0348] 2) Once the metadata has been invalidated for all objectssuspected of being changed externally, MFS puts each object on theupdater queue.

[0349] 3) While items exist on the updater queue, the updater does thefollowing:

[0350] 4) Takes the next item off the queue

[0351] 5) Tells the object to update itself. This, in turn, causes theobject to go to the source to determine what the true values should befor each of the invalid property values. Once the values have beenretrieved from the source (by asking the file system for file metadatasuch as name, modification date, etc.), the new values are set in thecatalog and the property is validated.

[0352] 6) The catalog then creates notification events based on theobjects and values that were set, and enqueues them on the notifierqueue

[0353] 7) The notifier goes through each event, telling all of theobject's dependents (any containers to which the object belongs as amember, as well as any other dependent objects) that it has changed thegiven properties.

[0354] 8) Those objects, in turn, determine whether any of theirproperties need invalidation. For example, if a file's size has changed,the containing folder's size property needs to be updated, since it isdependent on the sizes of all the files within the folder.

[0355] Using these two processes, scan and match, the File domaincreates a Mirrored Object System within MFS that exactly represents thefile and folder hierarchy that the Domain tracks, regardless of externalchanges.

[0356] The EMail Domain. This domain registers new object classes formailboxes, which describe servers and passwords for retrieving mail;signatures, for signing messages; and email messages themselves.Properties for these objects include server names, addresses, andpasswords, for mailboxes; a name and text string, for signatures; andthe full suite of email properties for messages, including From, Date,Subject, and message body.

[0357] The domain is responsible for communicating with mail servers forboth sending and receiving email; creating outgoing message objects; andfor creating new received message objects as they are downloaded fromthe server. Attachments are handled by communication with the Filedomain for creating and linking to file objects as they are downloadedto disk. Finally, window layouts are provided for outgoing and incomingemail messages; mailboxes; and signatures. Behaviors such as sendingmessages, forwarding, replying, and so on are also supported by thedomain.

[0358] The Music Domain. This domain, a client of the File domain,registers a new object for a music file, generally in the MP3 format.Properties registered include the track's title, artist, album, genre,and comments.

[0359] The domain is responsible for extracting the property values fromthe file using the ID3 tags that are embedded in the file, and forsetting the properties in the catalog for the object. The domain alsocreates predefined collections for titles by album, and albums byartist, based on the music files that are handled by the system.

[0360] The domain may also provide a music player for all files in agiven container; in this way the user can play all the tracks on a givenalbum, or tracks grouped together in an arbitrary collection.

[0361] Finally, a window layout is provided for information about themusic track, showing album, artist, title, and so on in addition to thegeneric file information such as filename, file size, and so on.

[0362] The Personal Information Domain. This domain registers newobjects for contacts, notes, appointments, projects, events, and tasks.Specific properties are registered for each object: for contacts, thestandard list of contact information such as first and last name, emailaddress, phone, and so on; for notes, the note text; for appointments,the date and time, repeat interval, description, contacts, and so on;for projects, the project name and description; for events, the eventname, date, and so on; and for tasks, the task description, priority,and the like.

[0363] The domain is responsible for scanning and matching withsystem-level address book databases, creating, deleting, and modifyingcontacts as required. Depending on the domain implementation, it mayalso match with other PIM databases such as Outlook and Palm in the sameway, by creating mirror objects in MFS for each object in the targetdatabase.

[0364] The domain creates predefined collections for all notes, allcontacts, and so forth, as well as predefined collections for eachcontact that collect all objects that reference the contact's name.

[0365] Finally, window layouts are provided for each type of object toallow display and editing of the object's data.

[0366] The Image Management Domain. This domain, a client of the Filedomain, registers new objects for file types that store images.Properties registered include image resolution, width, height, depth,and the like.

[0367] The domain is responsible for extracting the attribute from thefile and attributing the MFS object appropriately, as well as forreading the file data and displaying it as an image within an MFSwindow.

[0368] The domain creates predefined collections for all images ofvarious types (e.g. JPEG files, GIF files, Photoshop files, etc.), aswell as a single Images collection for all images.

[0369] Finally, a window layout is provided for the display of imagefiles.

[0370] The Time Domain. This domain provides no new object classes, butcreates and maintains a set of dynamic collections that are based onrelative time. For example, the domain creates and keeps up to date aToday collection that changes each day; similarly, Last Week, LastMonth, Last Year, and collections created on demand by the user arehandled by this domain.

[0371] The domain provides a root collection called Time; in thiscollection the various other collections are created and stored. Acollection for the current year contains collections for each month ofthe year to date; in turn, each month has collections for each week ofthe month.

[0372] Finally, the domain provides window layouts for unique views ofobjects by time, including a Timeline view where documents are arrangedby a date property within a given range, among others. This domain isparticularly adaptable to use in the legal field where extensivedocketing systems are required.

[0373] Additional Domains. It should be understood, as will be evidentto one skilled in the art that a wide variety of other Domains may beadded, e.g., Location, Space, Event, Symptom, Cause of Action, etc., asthe Domains described above are merely exemplary and not limiting of thescope, nature and character of domains that the inventive system canemploy. The Domains can be special in nature, as noted by the Symptomfor those in the medical profession, and Cause of Action for those inthe legal services profession. Another Domain could be “MO” for modusoperandi, for use by investigators and police, which can be set toautomatically group in collections sets of facts (objects representingtext narratives of criminal activities, images and the like) based onsimilar MOs. This automatic building of collections could be a powerfultool in the criminal justice field. Likewise, engineering professionscan build collections with similarities in data trends or values, e.g.,temperatures, materials values, velocity, concentrations of chemicalcomponents, etc. for analytic purposes.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

[0374] The inventive data storage organization, archiving, retrieval andpresentation system architecture and technology can be used in a widevariety of applications; the primary being desktop file organization andserver data management. The inventive system is remarkably robust, yetis a relatively small application program that can function with anytype of Operating System: Microsoft Windows, Windows NT, Windows 2000,and Windows XP; Apple Macintosh OS 9 and OSX; BSD Unix, HP-UX, SunSolaris, Linux, and the like. Currently the inventive technology ispreferably implemented in its current best mode in a form that isexecutable on the Apple Macintosh OS9 and OSX operating systems.

[0375] As to Desktop Organization, the invention is useful as animproved desktop organization application for all types of data, limitedonly by the domains that can be conceived-of. Domains may be easilycreated to extend the MFS capabilities to new areas of expertise.

[0376] As to File Organization, similar to the Apple Macintosh Finder orMicrosoft Windows Explorer, the inventive MFS system provides basic disknavigation and display features. In addition, the File domain allowsadditional properties to be specified for files, including: a due date;a file species (e.g. an application, a bookmark, a text-readable file,an image file, a font file, etc.); and a file path. Folders haveadditional properties that are maintained automatically: the size of thecontents of the folder; and the depth of the folder from the rootdirectory of the disk, among others.

[0377] As to Image Cataloging, image asset management is easilyimplemented as an extension of the MFS File domain. A domain that canextract relevant information from images found on disk (e.g. size, typeof image, colors used, resolution, and so on) is created as arepresentative object within MFS that has the given properties. Userscan then view and select the images that satisfy certain collectioncriteria. Comments on the objects can also be used to describe and/ordefine the content of the images, and collections can be created toorganize all images based on their described/defined content.

[0378] As to Personal Information Management the inventive MFS system isuseful for scheduling, organization and tracking of appointments,contacts, events, notes, projects, and tasks as typical kinds of objectsthat are defined by the PIM (Personal Information Management) domain.What makes the inventive system of particular interest to industry isthat the PIM Domain functionality provides a new feature: the ability toorganize information objects by person and by project.

[0379] As to EMail, a basic embodiment of the inventive MFS systemprovides basic EMail client services. The objects that the basic EMaildomain defines include: mailboxes, email messages, and signatures. Thiscan be expanded to include all types of e-business trust services,including: signature legalization; payment transfers; electronic recordretention and verification; electronic filing of documents, includingformal/legal documents, applications, forms and the like; privacy andconfidentiality guards; identity verification and authentication; accessguards; time verification and authentication, including times ofsending, acceptance, receipt and performance; and the like.

[0380] As to EMail Notification, the inventive MFS system permits theuser to watch all postings and create emails describing when a messagewill be classified into a given collection (automatic forum). Thisresults from the functionality of the classifier; as it is data-driven,it classifies all collections simultaneously. When a key phrase is foundit lists all collections from all users that specify that phrase. Thephrases can be defined in Boolean search terms for the broadestinclusive categorization and inclusion.

[0381] As to Custom Desktop Client, the inventive MFS system includes,by way of example, the useful functionality of Portfolio management bywhich the user, as a customer of a financial services site, such asMarketocracy.com, can communicate with the site server to synchronizedata, e.g., to provide automatic portfolio updates, stock quote display,market, sector and stock performance graphing, and the like.

[0382] As to Personal Finance, a personal finance domain may beimplemented in MFS to provide objects for checks, checkbooks, receipts,invoices, stocks, funds, and so on. The normal accounting principlesapply; the value propagation feature mechanism is used to ensure thatthe checkbook properties (e.g. balance) are computed from the checkproperties (e.g. amount of check). Stocks and funds can be updated overthe network and their values displayed in MFS.

[0383] It should be understood that various modifications within thescope of this invention can be made by one of ordinary skill in the artwithout departing from the spirit thereof and without undueexperimentation. It is apparent to those skilled in the art that manyfeatures and functionalities of the inventive MFS can be enabled andrealized separately. For example, sticky paths or drag and drop linkcreation can each be coded in a separate application or applet, or canbe provided as incremental upgrades to a program, or as plug-ins oradd-ons to existing other productivity, organizational or creativityapplication programs or applets. That is, MFS can include less than allthe dozen or more features described above, and, conversely, MFS isextensible to include additional features and is adaptable toco-operatingly interact and enhance other applications. This inventionis therefore to be defined by the scope of the appended claims asbroadly as the prior art will permit, and in view of the specificationif need be, including a full range of current and future equivalentsthereof.

1. A computer data processing system including a central processing unitconfigured with an integrated computer control software system for themanagement of information data objects including automatic organization,indexing and viewing of information, said data processing systemcomprising: a) a computer-readable memory structured with a partitionedstorage organization having at least one object store object-orienteddatabase including B-Tree nodes, foundation objects and referenceobjects, and at least one catalog database containing metadata; b) acomputer display connected to said memory for displaying objects fromsaid object-oriented database in a desktop-style interface; c) acomputer-user interface device for inputting information to said dataprocessing system, including information to specify objects orproperties of objects, and for input of objects from external sources;d) an applications program having component architecture code processedby said central processing unit so as to scan source data of objects,create or extract metadata from said scanned objects, store saidmetadata in said catalog database, and store reference objects in saidobject store with metadada links attached to said reference objects toprovide automatic organization, indexing and viewing of informationobjects from multiple sources in said desktop-style interface whilestoring only one instance of said reference object.
 2. A computer dataprocessing system as in claim 1 wherein said central processor unitprocesses said code so as to generate and provide: i) automatic,collection-based key-phrase hyperlinking; ii) viewing by reference, byapplying a user's categorizations in an inverse manner to showrelationships between objects and filtering out those that are notrelevant to the current view; iii) refining of views, by automaticallyconjoining specifications of multiple chosen collections; iv) time-baseddynamic hierarchical collections; v) sticky path hierarchical scrolldisplay; vi) automatic generation of collections by one or more objectcontent attributes selected by the user from among user-definedcategorization(s), user of system-defined metadata queryspecification(s), user or system-defined key phrase matching, andcombinations thereof; vii) worksets for determining the union ofapplications used to create/edit a given set of objects in a collectionor other container; viii) an extensible domain mechanism for addingfunctionality to the system; ix) an extensible mechanism for extracting,storing, displaying (via get info) and managing attribute from files ofmany different formats; x) real-time filtering/sorting; xi) notificationto the user of collection establishment and changes in collections; xii)link creation between objects and collections by drag-and-dropattribution, including the use of collections to add key phrases to anobject by dragging into a collection; and xiii) the setting of specificproperty values of objects by dragging object icons to specialdrop-targets.
 3. A computer data processing system as in claim 1 whereinsaid central processing unit processes so as to generate and store insaid catalog database metadata selected from association metadata andlink metadata, said metadata permitting storage of only one referenceobject and linking it to one or more collection groups.
 4. A computerdata processing system as in claim 3 wherein said central processingunit processes so as to include in said metadata a UID and a UUID and toalias said UID and UUID to collections selected, set or created by theuser to create retrieval links from the relevant collections to thereference object so that only one instance of said reference object isstored in said object oriented database, thereby saving data storagecapacity.
 5. A computer data processing system as in claim 4 whereinsaid central processing unit processes so as to scan an incomingobject's source data, and upon recognition of individual objects ascontained in said source data, create reference objects tagged withUUIDs to provide a one-to-one mapping between external data and saidreference objects, and to automatically classify and placerepresentative icons of objects into multiple collections or containersusing said link metadata rather than duplication of said objects,thereby allowing users to categorize objects in ways that most clearlyreflect different approaches and ways of viewing the same information,and to apply a user's categorizations in an inverse manner to showrelationships between objects and filter out those that are not relevantto the current view for user viewing by reference.
 6. A computer dataprocessing system as in claim 3 wherein said central processing unitprocesses so as to place only link metadata in said catalog for ease oforganization and cross-referencing of objects among a large group ofcollections and containers by clicking on the icon representing anobject in one collection window and dragging it into another collectionwindow to establish a new link and new link metadata entry in saidcatalog database so that said reference object is viewable, accessibleand retrievable from both collections.
 7. A computer data processingsystem as in claim 3 wherein said central processing unit processes soas to query said metadata, including queries selected from matching keyphrases in an object's text, matching dates and time ranges or exactmatches, matches of sizes, ordering or type, and to create dynamic linksbased on matches detected, including automatic query processing ofincoming external and internally created objects for dynamic updating ofall relevant collections so that any changes in the user's informationspace or desktop results in timely and appropriate changes to affectedobject views and for hypertext generation, highlighting and linking intextual properties of objects, including objects selected from e-mailtext and document text.
 8. A computer data processing system as in claim1 wherein said central processing unit processes so as to provide,during user scrolling, views of objects and their containmentrelationships or location paths within said memory in a window on saiddisplay so the visible object's containment hierarchies are continuouslymade visible in a dynamically-updating portion of the window, and as thescrolling continues in descending hierarchical order, the container ofeach branch remains visible in, or sticks-to, a dynamically-updatingportion of the window, and in ascending hierarchical order, the stuckcontainer views are deleted.
 9. A computer data processing system as inclaim 1 wherein said central processing unit processes so as to provideto users a basic set of organization principles for users to intuitivelymanage their information so as to reflect the information'srelationships as they occur and change in the real world, includingrelationship principles based on people, projects, activities, events,time and place.
 10. A computer data processing system as in claim 1wherein said central processing unit processes so as to create amirrored object system of text and image information, to provide objectproperty-based information access, to provide a comprehensive desktopinterface having collections of logical groupings of objects and topermit user viewing by reference, and said processing is structured asan extensible platform.
 11. Method of management of informationalobjects by a computer system having a central processing unit, interfacedevices, computer-readable memory, and a display, comprising the stepsof providing code structure that partitions said memory to providestorage organization having at least one object store object-orienteddatabase including B-Tree nodes, foundation objects and referenceobjects, and at least one catalog database, and causes said computersystem to process by scanning source data of objects, creating orextracting metadata from said scanned objects, storing said metadata insaid catalog database, storing reference objects in said object storewith metadata links attached to said reference objects, thereby toprovide automatic organization, indexing and viewing of informationobjects from multiple sources in a desktop-style style interface whilestoring only one instance of said reference object.
 12. Method ofmanagement of informational objects by a computer system as in claim 11wherein said central processor unit processes said code in stepsgenerating and providing: i) automatic, collection-based key-phrasehyperlinking; ii) viewing by reference, by applying a user'scategorizations in an inverse manner to show relationships betweenobjects and filtering out those that are not relevant to the currentview; iii) refining of views, by automatically conjoining specificationsof multiple chosen collections; iv) time-based dynamic hierarchicalcollections; v) sticky path hierarchical scroll display; vi) automaticgeneration of collections by one or more object content attributesselected by the user from among user-defined categorization(s), user ofsystem-defined metadata query specification(s), user or system-definedkey phrase matching, and combinations thereof; vii)worksets fordetermining the union of applications used to create/edit a given set ofobjects in a collection or other container; viii) an extensible domainmechanism for adding functionality to the system; ix) an extensiblemechanism for extracting, storing, displaying (via get info) andmanaging attribute from files of many different formats; x) real-timefiltering/sorting; xi) notification to the user of collectionestablishment and changes in collections; xii) link creation betweenobjects and collections by drag-and-drop attribution, including the useof collections to add key phrases to an object by dragging into acollection; and xiii) the setting of specific property values of objectsby dragging object icons to special drop-targets.